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Introduction

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20 views11 pages

Introduction

Uploaded by

dominic29112007
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction:

An electroscop
e is a scientific
instrument used to
detect the presence
and magnitude of an
electric charge on a
body. It was
invented by the
British Physician
William Gilbert in the
1600s. He made the
first electroscope by
using a pivoted
needle.
An electroscope is generally used to
detect the presence of a charge over a
body by using Coulomb’s electrostatic
force. This force is generated due to the
motion caused by a test charge. An
electroscope is also known as a crude
voltmeter since the electric charge over an
object is always equal to its capacitance.
Types:
There are mainly two types of
electroscopes which are mentioned as
well as explained below:
1. Pith ball electroscope
2. Goldleaf electroscope
Pith ball
electroscope:
In 1731, Stephen Gray used a simple
hanging thread, which would be
attracted to any nearby charged object.
This was the first improvement on
Gilbert's design from 1600.
It consists of one or two small balls
of a lightweight nonconductive
substance, originally a spongy plant
material called pith, suspended
by silk or linen thread from the hook
of an insulated stand. Modern
electroscopes usually use balls made of
plastic. In order to test the presence
of a charge on an object, the object is
brought near to the uncharged pith
ball. If the object is charged, the
ball will be attracted to it and move
toward it.

Gold leaf
electroscope:
The gold-leaf electroscope was
developed in 1787 by British
clergyman and physicist Abraham
Bennet, as a more sensitive
instrument than pith ball then in
use. It consists of a
vertical metal rod, usually brass,
from the end of which hang two
parallel strips of thin
flexible gold leaf. A disk or ball
terminal is attached to the top of
the rod, where the charge to be
tested is applied.[11] To protect the
gold leaves from drafts of air they
are enclosed in a glass bottle,
usually open at the bottom and
mounted over a conductive base.

Estimating the charge


induced using Coulomb’s
Law:
In 1785 Augustine de Coulomb investigated
the attractive and repulsive forces between
charged objects, experimentally formulating what
is now referred to as Coulomb’s Law: “The
magnitude of the electric force that a particle
exerts on another is directly proportional to
the product of their charges and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance
between them.” Mathematically, this
electrostatic F acting on two charged particles
(q1, q2) is expressed as

where r is the separation distance between the


objects and k is a constant of proportionality,
called the Coulomb constant, k = 9 × 109 Nm2/ C2.
This formula gives us the magnitude of the force
as well as direction by noting a positive force
as attractive and a negative force as repulsive.
Noting that like charges repel each other and
opposite charges attracting each other, Coulomb
measured the force between the objects, small
metal coated balls, by using a torsion balance
similar to the balance used to measure
gravitational forces.

Objective:
To estimate the charge induced on each of
the two identical Styrofoam (or pith) balls
suspended in a vertical plane by making use of
coulomb’s law.

Materials Required:
 Small size identical pith balls
 Physical balance or electronic balance
 Half meter Scale
 Cotton thread
 Stand
 Glass rod (or plastic rod)
 Silk cloth (or woollen cloth)

THEORY:-
The charged particles which make up the universe come
in three kinds: positive, negative, and neutral.
Neutral particles do not interact with electrical
forces. Charged particles exert electrical and
magnetic forces on one another, but if the charges
are stationary, the mutual force is very simple in
form and is given by Coulomb's Law:

where F is the electrical force between any two


stationary charged particles with
charges q1 and q2(measured in coulombs), r is the
separation between the charges (measured in meters),
and k is a constant of nature (equal to 9×109 Nm2/C2 in
SI units).
The study of the Coulomb forces among arrangements
of stationary charged particles is called
electrostatics. Coulomb's Law describes three
properties of the electrical force:

1. The force is inversely proportional to the


square of the distance between the charges, and
is directed along the straight line that
connects their centres.
2. The force is proportional to the product of
the magnitude of the charges.
3. Two particles of the same charge exert a
repulsive force on each other, and two
particles of opposite charge exert an
attractive force on each other.

Most of the common objects we deal with in the


macroscopic (human-sized) world are electrically
neutral. They are composed of atoms that consist of
negatively charged electrons moving in quantum motion
around a positively charged nucleus. The total
negative charge of the electrons is normally exactly
equal to the total positive charge of the nuclei, so
the atoms (and therefore the entire object) have
no net electrical charge. When we charge a material by
friction, we are transferring some of the electrons
from one material to another.

Materials such as metals are conductors. Each


metal atom contributes one or two electrons that can
move relatively freely through the material. A
conductor will carry an electrical current. Other
materials such as glass are insulators. Their
electrons are bound tightly and cannot move. Charge
sticks on an insulator, but does not move freely
through it.

A neutral particle is not affected by electrical


forces. Nevertheless, a charged object will attract a
neutral macroscopic object
by the process of electrical
polarization. For example,
if a negatively charged rod
is brought close to an
isolated, neutral insulator,
the electrons in the atoms
of the insulator will be
pushed slightly away from
the negative rod, and the
positive nuclei will be
attracted slightly toward
the negative rod. We say that the rod
has induced polarization in the insulator, but its net
charge is still zero.

The polarization of charge in the insulator is


small, but now it’s positive charge is a bit closer to
the negative rod, and its negative charge is a bit
farther away. Thus, the positive charge is attracted
to the rod more strongly than the negative charge is
repelled, and there is an overall net attraction.
If the negative rod is brought near an isolated,
neutral conductor, the conductor will also be
polarized. In the conductor, electrons are free to
move through the material, and some of them are
repelled over to the opposite surface of the
conductor, leaving the surface near the negative rod
with a net positive charge. The conductor has been
polarized, and will now be attracted to the charged
rod.

Now if we connect a conducting wire or any other


conducting material from the polarized conductor to
the ground, we provide a “path” through which the
electrons can move. Electrons will actually move along
this path to the ground. If the wire or path is
subsequently disconnected, the conductor as a whole is
left with a net positive charge. The conductor has
been charged without actually being touched with the
charged rod, and its charge is opposite that of the
rod. This procedure is called charging by induction.

Let the force between two stationary charges be F


The Weight of the ball
W=mg
The restoring force on each ball
=mgsin θ
From the diagram in the right
In triangle ACB
x
sin θ =
2l
Let the charge on each ball is
q1=q2=q
Then at equlilibrium
kq × q
mgsin θ= x
2

x kq 2
=mg 2l = x 2
3
 g= mgx
2lk

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