Lecture – 1

Class 10th – Electricity

Electric Charge

Charge is the property associated with matter due to which it produces and experiences electrical
and magnetic effects.

Types of Charge

(i) Positive charge : It is the deficiency of electrons compared to protons.

(ii) Negative charge : It is the excess of electrons compared to protons.

Units of Charge

Charge is a derived physical quantity. Charge is measured in coulomb in S.I. unit.

C.G.S unit of charge = electrostatic unit = esu.

1 coulomb = 3 × 109 esu of charge

Properties of Charge

(I) Charge is a scalar quantity : It adds algebraically and represents excess, or deficiency of

electrons.

(II) Charge is transferable : Charging a body implies transfer of charge (electrons) from one body

to another. Positively charged body means loss of electrons, i.e. deficiency of electrons. Negatively

charged body means excess of electrons. This also shows that mass of a negatively charged

body > mass of a positively charged identical body.

(III) Charge is conserved : In an isolated system, total charge (sum of positive and negative)

remains constant whatever change takes place in that system.

(IV) Charge is quantized : Charge on anybody always exists in integral multiples of a fundamental

unit of electric charge. This unit is equal to the magnitude of charge on electron (1e = 1.6 ×

10–19 coulomb). So charge on anybody Q = ± ne, where n is an integer and e is the charge of

the electron.

(v) Like point charges repel each other while unlike point charges attract each other.
(vi) Charge is always associated with mass, i.e., charge can not exist without mass though mass

can exist without charge. The particle such as photon or neutrino which have no (rest) mass

can never have a charge.

(vii) Charge is relativistically invariant : This means that charge is independent of frame of
reference, i.e., charge on a body does not change whatever be its speed. This property is worth
mentioning as in contrast to charge, the mass of a body depends on its speed and increases with
increase in speed.

(viii) A charge at rest produces only electric field around itself; a charge having uniform motion

produces electric as well as magnetic field around itself while a charge having accelerated

motion emits electromagnetic radiation.

(ix) Quantization of charge : If the charge of an electron (  1.6  10 19 C ) is taken as elementary
unit i.e. quanta of charge, the charge on any body will be some integral multiple of e i.e.,

Q   ne with n  1, 2, 3 ....

Charge v/s mass

Charge Mass

(1) Electric charge can be (1) Mass of a body is a positive

positive, negative or zero. quantity.

(2) Charge carried by a body does
not depend upon velocity of the
body.
(2) Mass of a body increases with its
m0
velocity as m
1  v2 / c 2
where c is velocity of light in
vacuum, m is the mass of the body
moving with velocity v and m 0 is
rest mass of the body.

(3) Charge is quantized. (3) The quantization of mass is yet to

be established.

(4) Electric charge is always (4) Mass is not conserved as it can

conserved. be changed into energy and vice-
versa.

(5) Force between charges can be (5) The gravitational force between
attractive or repulsive, two masses is always attractive.
accordingly as charges are unlike
or like charges.

Materials can be broadly classified in either of the following two categories :

(i) Conductors
(ii) Insulators
(i) Conductors : These are the materials that allow flow of charge through them. This
category generally comprises of metals but may sometimes contain non-metals too. (ex.
Carbon in form of graphite.)
(ii) Insulators : These are the materials which do not allow movement of charge through
them.
Coulomb’s Law

If two stationary and point charges q1 and q2 are kept at a distance r, then it is found that force
between them is

F gives the magnitude of electrostatic force.

q1 and q2 are the magnitudes of the two interacting charges.

K is electrostatic constant which depends upon the medium surrounding the two charges.

Electrical Field

A positive charge or a negative charge is said to create its field around itself. Thus space around
a charge in which another charged particle experiences a force is said to have electrical field in it.

E + E
q0 + + + + q0
+

Electric Lines of Force

(1) Definition : The electric field in a region is represented by continuous lines (also called lines
of force). Field line is an imaginary line along which a positive test charge will move if left free.

+ –

(A) (Radially outward) (B) (Radially inward)

+ – +  +
N

(C) (D)
 (2) Properties of electric lines of force

(i) Electric field lines come out of positive charge and go into the negative charge.

(ii) Tangent to the field line at any point gives the direction of the field at that point.

EA
EB
B

(iii) Field lines never intersect each other.

Electric Potential

(1) Definition : Potential at a point in a field is defined as the amount of work done in bringing a
unit positive test charge, from infinity to that point along any arbitrary path (infinity is point of
W
zero potential). Electric potential is a scalar quantity, it is denoted by V; V 
q0

(2) Unit and dimensional formula

Joule
S. I. unit :  volt
Coulomb

1
C.G.S. unit : Stat volt (e.s.u.); 1 volt  Stat volt
300

(3) Potential difference : In an electric field potential difference between two points A and B is
defined as equal to the amount of work done (by external agent) in moving a unit positive
W
charge from point A to point B i.e., VB  VA 
q0