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UNIT TOTAL WEIGHTAGE

1 Electrostatics and Current Electricity 14 marks

ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS

Coulomb’s law can be written for air medium as,

The value of εr would change depends on the medium. The expression for relative permittivity εr is as
follows;

Gravitational force Vs Electric force

Gravitational force Electrostatic force
It is a force of an object due to its mass. It is a force of an object due to charge.
It is the very strong force as compared to It is very weak force as compared to
the electric force. Electric force.
It is only attractive. It is attractive as well as repulsive.
It does not depend on medium. It depends on the medium.
Its constant is “G”. Its constant is “K”.
It originates from the mass. It originates from the charge.
Its formula is: It’s formula is:
Similarities between gravitational and electrostatic forces
Both gravitational and electric forces acting in the fields are inversely proportional to the square root
of distance/radius. They both act between two bodies without contact. Both gravitational and electric fields
have field strength that also follows this inverse square law in relation to distance. Mass/charge in a
gravitational field/electric field has potential.

1. Both are non contact forces.

2. Both are conservative forces.

3. Both are long range forces.

4. Both satisfy inverse square law.

5. both of them are central forces, i.e. angular momentum conservation occurs.

6. Both follow Newton third law.

Examples of law of conservation of charge

1. Due to friction opposite charges appear on two bodies that are rubbing against each other. the net
charge is still zero .

2. During radioactive decay a proton decays into a positron(a particle with positive charge and mass
equal to that of electron) and a neutron , again no net charge production.

3. Charges due to induction.

Why is static electricity more apparent in winter?

You notice static electricity much more in winter (with clothes in a dryer, or taking a sweater off, or
getting a shock when you touch something after walking on carpet) than in summer because the air is
much drier in winter than summer. Dry air is a relatively good electrical insulator, so if something is
charged the charge tends to stay. In more humid conditions, such as you find on a typical summer day,
water molecules, which are polarized, can quickly remove charge from a charged object.

Applying conservation of charge

Two identical conducting spheres are initially separated. The left sphere has a -3 coulomb charge and
the right sphere has a +2 coulomb charge. The spheres are allowed to touch each other briefly, and then
they are separated. Determine the charge on the left sphere.
(A)-1C

(B)-1/2 C

(C) 0 C

(D) 1/2 C

(E) 1 C

http://www.studiestoday.com/worksheet-physics-cbse-class-12-physics-worksheet-electrostatics-
201396.html

The answer is (B)

1) Charges of opposite sign cancel.

2) Charges distribute themselves for maximum seperation on a conductor's surface.