UNIT 3: ELECTRIC FIELD

Electric Field
Electric field is force field which described action at a distance of one charge body upon another. It is
defined as region of space where a charged particle experiences an electric force represented by imaginary
lines.

Electric lines of Force: These are imaginary lines drawn in an electric field in such a way that the
direction at any point gives the direction of the electric field at such point. The electric lines of force are
demonstrated in Figure 1.0

Figure 1.0: Electric Lines of Force

Some of the properties of the lines of electric force are; (a) they start only on positive charges and end
only on negative charges (b) the number of lines starting or ending is proportional to the magnitude of the
electric field (c) the closer the lines are together, the stronger the electric field in that region (d) the lines
do not intersect each other.

Electric Field Intensity (E): This is the strength of an electric field at any point; define as the electric
force F per unit positive charge q at that point. Mathematically it is given as
𝑭
𝑬 =𝑞 1.0
If F is measured in Newtons and q in Coulombs, then the electric field intensity E is in Newtons per
Coulombs (N/C). Since E is a vector, the electric field is an example of vector field; therefore electric
force is given as
F = qE 2.0
If we have a point charge q at a distance r from test charge qo, the electric force between the charges is
given by the Coulomb’s law
1 𝑞 𝑞𝑜
𝐹 =
4𝑜 𝑟 2
The Field Intensity at the point of the charge q is given as

𝐹 1 𝑞𝑜 𝑞
𝐸 = =
𝑞 4𝑜 𝑞𝑟 2
𝑞
𝐸 = 3.0
4 𝑟 2𝑜
Electric Potential
According to Coulumb’s law, force of attraction act between two charges, therefore in order to separate
two charges, work must be done against the field.
Electric potential at any point is defined as the work done in bringing unit positive charge from infinity
to that point against the electric forces of the field.
However, for two known points, the work done in taking a unit positive charge from one point to the other
in the electric field is called Potential Difference. Electric potential difference is scalar quantity and the
unit is volt (V). This interpretation as work done per unit charge explains why the volt is the same as joule
per coulomb.

Mathematically, work done (W) = electric charge (q) × electric potential difference (V) i.e.
𝑊
𝑉 =𝑞 4.0

It can therefore be shown that electric intensity E is related to the electric potential difference V between
two points by combining equations 1.0 and 4.0 and substituting W = F × d
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 𝑉
𝐸 =𝑑 5.0
It can also be seen that
𝑞
𝑉 = 6.0
4 𝑑𝑜
Where d is the distance between the two points in the electric field.

Example 1: Two point charges +30C and +11C are separated by a distance of 20cm. Compute the electric
1
intensity and the force on a +5×10-6C charge placed midway between the charges. (Take 4  = 9×109
𝑜
Nm2C-2)

Solution
𝑞
a) Electric Intensity, 𝐸 = 4 𝑟 2𝑜
Consider the positive charge P placed in the midway.
10cm 10cm
+30C P +10C
The positive charge P will be repelled towards the right by the +30C charge, and repelled towards the
left by the +10C charge, hence the resultant field intensity E at P is given by E = E30 – E10 : We then
30 10
have; E30 = 9 × 109 (0.1)2 and E10 = 9 × 109 (0.1)2 Therefore,
9×109
E = E30 – E10 = (0.1)2 (30 − 10) and E = 1.8×1013NC-1 toward the right.

b) Force on the charge (+5×10-6C), F = qE

F = 5×10-6 × 1.8×1013 = 9.0×107N

Gauss’s Law
The electric field of the surface is calculated by applying Coulomb’s law (which we have just seen) but to
calculate the electric field distribution in a closed surface, we need to understand the concept of Gauss
law. It explains the electric charge enclosed in a closed surface or the electric charge present in the
enclosed closed surface.

The Electric flux  E: Is defined as the electric field passing through a given area multiplied by the area
of the surface in a plane perpendicular to the field. It is often defined surface integral of the normal
component of the Electric field E over that surface A.

Figure 2.0: Electric Flux

Mathematically, electric flux is given as
.
E = E A = ∫𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐄 ⋅ d𝐀 7.0

Gauss’s law: States that “the net flux of an electric field in a closed surface is directly proportional to the
enclosed electric charge”. Yet another statement of Gauss’s law states “that the net flux of a given electric
field through a given surface, divided by the enclosed charge should be equal to a constant”. The law can
be generally stated as “the total electric flux out of a closed surface is equal to the charge enclosed divided
by the permittivity”. It is one of the four equations of Maxwell’s laws of electromagnetism and
mathematically given as
Q
E =  8.0
o
Gauss’s Law can be written as
. 𝑄
∫𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐄 ⋅ d𝐀 = 𝜀 9.0
𝑜
Where,
 E is the electric field vector
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  Q is the enclosed electric charge
 ε0 is the electric permittivity of free space (8.854×10−12 F/m)
 A is the outward pointing normal area vector

Example 2: Consider three charges q1, q2, and q3 having charges 6C, 5C and 3C enclosed in a surface,
respectively. (a) Find the total flux enclosed by the surface (b) What will be the electric field intensity if
the surface area is 0.45m2?
Solution
a). Total charge Q = q1 + q2 + q3 = 6C + 5C + 3C = 14 C
𝑄 14
The total flux,  =  = 8.854×10−12
𝑜
 = 1.584 Nm /C. Therefore, the total flux enclosed by the surface is 1.584 Nm2/C.
2
 1.584
b) Electric field, E = A = 0.45 3.52N/C

Capacitance
When a conductor is given a charge Q, it acquired a potential V which is proportional to the charge give to
it i.e. Q  V or
𝑄
𝑄 = 𝐶𝑉 𝑜𝑟 𝐶 = 𝑉 10
The constant of proportionality C is called the Capacitance which is defined as the amount of charge in
coulomb necessary to increase the potential of a conductor by 1 volt. The unit of capacitance is farad (F)
i.e. coulomb per unit volt. The farad is a large unit. More practical units are microfarad (F) and picofarad
(pF).Whereby; 1 F = 10-6F and 1pF = 10-12F

Any isolated system of two conducing bodies (metal plates) of any shape and size, separated by a distance
(d) using an insulator often called dielectric substance is called capacitor. The capacitance C of the
capacitor depends on the size, shape, the separation distance (d) and nature of the medium between them.

Figure 3.0: Capacitor

Energy Store in Capacitor: The energy stored in a capacitor is given by

Q2 1 1
U = 2C = 2 QV = 2 CV 2 11
Where Q = charge on each place of capacitor, V is potential difference between plates and C is
capacitance of the capacitor. The potential energy resides in the electric field in the medium between the
plates.

Electric Dipole
A couple of equal and opposite charges separated by vector distance d is called an electric dipole.

Figure 4.0: Electric Dipole

The vector d is drawn from the negative to the positive charge along the axis of the dipole. The axis of the
dipole is the line joining the two point charges. The product qd of the charge and the separation is called
dipole moment p. It is defined as the measure of the separation of positive and negative electrical charges
within a system, given as.
p=qd 12

The unit of dipole moment is therefore Coulomb meter (C m).

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Dipole Placed in Electric Field
Consider a dipole placed in a uniform electric field E, as shown in Figure 4.0. Although the two forces
acting on the dipole ends cancel each other as free vectors, they do act as different points. Hence, it does
develop a torque on the dipole. Further, there is a rotating effect due to this torque which is experienced by
the dipole.

Figure 5.0: Electric Dipole Moment and Torque

The torque () magnitude considering the dipole center is the sum of the two forces times their respective
distance. If  is the angle between the line joining the two charges and the electric field, the dipole
experiences a torque,  given by
 = qEd sin 
 = pE sin 
 = p × E (expressed in Newton-meter) 13
Therefore, in the presence of the uniform electric field, a dipole tends to align itself parallel to the
concerned field. For this to happen, there are other conditions too, that is, orientation stays at some non-
zero angle denoted as ‘’.

Example 3: What is the dipole moment for a dipole having equal charges -2C and 2C separated with a
distance of 2cm?

Solution:
The calculated dipole moment for this condition is, p = q x d. Thus, p = 2 x 0.02 = 0.04 C-m.
Energy in Electric Field
We know that electric fields exist due to the presence of charges, but they also carry energy that can be
transformed, or used to do work. This is called electric field energy or electric potential energy and can be
defined as the amount of work done to assemble a system of point charges by bringing them in from an
infinite distance. We assume that the charges were at rest when they were infinitely separated, i.e. they
had no initial kinetic energy.

 The electric potential energy of two point charges q1 and q2 separated by a distance r is given by
1 q1 q2
U = 14
4o r
 The electric potential energy of three point charges q1, q2 and q2 separated by a distance r12 , r13
and r13 as shown below.

1 q1 q2 q2 q3 q1 q3
U = U12 + U23 + U31 = 4 ( + + ) 15
o r12 r23 r13
NB: This expression can be generalized for any number of charges

Example 4: Two positive point charges 12 and 8 microcoulombs respectively are placed 10cm apart in
1
air. What will be the work done to bring them 4cm closer? (Take 4  = 9×109 Nm2C-2)
𝑜

Solution
 Electric potential energy when the charges are 10cm = 0.1m apart is
1 q1 q2 (12×10−6 )(8×10−6 )
U1 = = 9 × 109 ( ) = 8.64J
4o r 0.1
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  Potential energy when the charges are brought 4cm closer i.e. when they are 6cm = 0.06m apart is
1 q1 q2 (12×10−6 )(8×10−6 )
U2 = = 9 × 109 ( ) = 14.4J
4o r 0.06
Work done U = U2 – U1 = 14.4 – 8.64 = 5.76J

Conductors and Insulators

In electromagnetism, the classification of elements is done on the basis of their conductivity of electric
charge, i.e. conductors and insulators.

In simple terms, an electrical conductor is defined as materials that allow electricity to flow through them
easily. This property of conductors that allow them to conduct electricity is known as conductivity. The
flow of electrons in a conductor is known as the electric current. The force required to make that current
flow through the conductor is known as voltage. Metals (copper, Aluminium, Silver, Gold, Graphite,
Platinum etc) humans, and earth are all conductors. This is the reason why we get electric shocks.

In the other hand, insulators are materials that hinder the free flow of electrons from one particle of the
element to another. If we transfer some amount of charge to such an element at any point, the charge
remains at the initial location and does not get distributed across the surface. Several types of electrical
bad conductors include; Plastic, Rubber, Cloth, Polythene, Wood etc

Differences between Conductor and Insulators

Some key conductor and insulator differences are given in the table below.
Conductor Insulator
Materials that permit electricity or heat to pass Materials that do not permit heat and electricity
through it. to pass through it.
Electrons move freely within the conductor. Electrons do not move freely within the
insulator.
The electric field exists on the surface but remains The electric field doesn’t exist.
zero on the inside.

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 EXERCISES
1. If electric potential V (in volt) varies with x (in metre) according to the relation V = 5 + 4x, what will
be the force experienced by a negative charge of 2×10-6C located at x=0.5m.
A. 2×10-6N
B. 4×10-6N
C. 6×10-6N
D. 8×10-6N
2. Three point charges each of magnitude q = 2C are placed at the vertices of P,Q and R of a triangle. If
line, PQ = 8cm and PR=4cm , what will be the electric potential at point P?
A. 6.00×105V
B. 6.25×105V
C. 6.50×105V
D. 6.75×105V
3. In Q2 above, what will be the potential energy of the charge at P?
A. 1.35J
B. 1.45J
C. 1.55J
D. 1.65J
4. Two point charges +4q and +q are placed 30cm apart. At what point on the line joining them is the
electric field zero?
A. 15cm from charge 4q
B. 20cm from charge 4q
C. 7.5cm from charge q
D. 5cm from charge q
5. An electric dipole placed with its axis in the direction of a uniform electric field experiences
A. A force but no torque
B. A torque by no force
C. Both force and torque
D. Neither force nor torque
5. An electric dipole placed in a non-uniform electric field experiences
A. A force but no torque
B. A torque by no force
C. Both force and torque
D. Neither force nor torque

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