Chapter 23

Electric Fields
23.1 Properties of Electric Charges
23.3 Coulomb’s Law
23.4 The Electric Field
23.6 Electric Field Lines
23.7 Motion of Charged Particles
in a Uniform Electric Field

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 23.1 Properties of Electric Charges
• There are two kinds of
electric charges in
nature:
– Positive
– Negative
• Like charges repel one
another and Unlike
charges attract one
another.
• Electric charge is
conserved.
• Charge is quantized
q=Ne
e = 1.6 x 10-19 C
N is some integer Nadiah Alenazi 2
 23.3 Coulomb’s Law
From Coulomb’s experiments, we can
generalize the following properties of the
electric force between two stationary
charged particles.

The electric force

• is inversely proportional to the square of the
separation r between the particles and directed
along the line joining them.
• is proportional to the product of the charges q1
and q2 on the two particles.
• is attractive if the charges are of opposite sign
and repulsive if the charges have the same sign.
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• Consider two electric charges: q1
and q2
• The electric force F between these
two charges separated by a
distance r is given by Coulomb’s
Law
• The constant ke is called Coulomb’s
constant
•  is the permittivity of
2
1 12 C
0
k where  0  8.85  10
free space 4  0 Nm 2

• The smallest unit of

charge e is the charge on
an electron (-e) or a
proton (+e) and has a
magnitude e = 1.6 x 10-19
C
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Example 23.1 The Hydrogen Atom
The electron and proton of a hydrogen
atom are separated (on the average)
by a distance of approximately 5.3 x
10-11 m. Find the magnitudes of the
electric force.

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• When dealing with Coulomb’s
law, you must remember that
force is a vector quantity

• The law expressed in vector

form for the electric force
exerted by a charge q1 on a
second charge q2, written F12,
is

• where rˆ is a unit vector directed from q1 toward q2

• The electric force exerted by q2 on q1 is

equal in magnitude to the force exerted
by q1 on q2 and in the opposite direction;
that is, F21= -F12.

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• When more than two charges are present,
the force between any pair of them is
given by Equation

• Therefore, the resultant force on any one

of them equals the vector sum of the
forces exerted by the various individual
charges.
• For example, if four charges are present,
then the resultant force exerted by
particles 2, 3, and 4 on particle 1 is

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• Double one of the charges
– force doubles
• Change sign of one of the charges
– force changes direction
• Change sign of both charges
– force stays the same
• Double the distance between charges
– force four times weaker
• Double both charges
– force four times stronger
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Example:
• Three point charges are aligned
along the x axis as shown. Find the
electric force at the charge 3nC.

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Example 23.2 Find the Resultant Force

• Consider three
point charges
located at the
corners of a right
triangle, where
q1=q3= 5.0μC, q2=
2.0 μC, and a=
0.10 m. Find the
resultant force
exerted on q3.
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