Faculty of Sciences

Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences

Lecturers: Prof C. Nyamhere (Office 11, Block 108B) and Mr O. Chimidza, Block 302 office 109

BSB122: Physics II
COURSE SYNOPSIS
An introductory, algebra-based physics course covering the topics of: (1) Electrostatics, (2) Current and electric circuits, (3) Magnetism, (4)
Electromagnetism, (5) Elements of Modern Physics,
RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK
1. Instructor’s Presentation Slides handouts / PowerPoint and Lecture Material Series available at: https://eduhub.buan.ac.bw/
2. Giancoli D. C 2012 Physics for Scientists and Engineers 8th Edition Prentice Hall International (UK) Limited. London. ISBN 13:
9780132431064
3. Serway & Jewett 2009 Physics for Scientists and Engineer with Modern Physics 8th Edition. Saunders College Publishers
London. ISBN 10:1-4390.3/4.
SCHEDULE FOR TESTS

Test One: 24th February 2025 Test Two: 7th April 2025
MODE OF ASSESSMENT

CA: Tests 30% + Online quizzes 10% + Laboratory Reports 20% + Laboratory Tests 40% = 100%
Unit 1: Electrostatics 1
Final Mark = 50% CA + 50% Exam mark = 100%
 COURSE SYNOPSIS

An introductory, algebra-based physics course covering the topics of:

(1) Electrostatics,
(2) Current and electric circuits,
(3) Magnetism,
(4) Electromagnetism,
(5) Elements of Modern Physics,

Unit 1: Electrostatics 2
 Unit 1 ELECTROSTATICS
Definition: Electrostatics is a branch of physics that deals with the phenomena and properties of stationary or slow-moving electric
charges. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other and are described by Coulomb's
law.

• Unit 1.1: Electrostatic point charges

• Unit 1.2: Electric Field

• Unit 1.3: Electrostatic potential and potential Energy

• Unit 1.4: Capacitance

Unit 1: Electrostatics 3
1.1 Electrostatic point charges

Objectives
• Types of charges and their atomic source. Coulomb’s law, problems involving distribution of point charges in a plane.

Learning outcomes:
• Describe the types of charge and the attraction and repulsion of charges.
• Describe polarization and induced charges.
• Calculate the magnitude and direction of the force on a positive or negative charge due to other specified point charges.
• Analyse the motion of a particle of specified charge and mass under the influence of an electrostatic force.
• Describe the process of charging by induction.
• Explain why a neutral conductor is attracted to a charged object.

This young woman is enjoying the effects of electrically charging her body.
Each individual hair on her head becomes charged and exerts a repulsive
force on the other Hairs, resulting in the “stand-up” Hairdo seen here. [Ted
kinsman/photo Researcher, Inc.]

Unit 1: Electrostatics 4
A lightning strike consists of opposite charges of electrical energy. A negative charge or build-up of negative charge occurs in the
bottom part of the cloud closest to earth and a positive charge of energy occurs directly underneath the cloud on the ground.
Separating these two opposite charges is the non-conducting dry air belt separating cloud and earth. As the two opposite charges
continue to build up and the dry air belt becomes moist, lightning starts developing toward earth in 50m jagged steps or intervals. The
positive ground charge is attracted upward, utilizing the lightning protection system on the building as an outlet

Unit 1: Electrostatics 5
1.1.1 PROPERTIES OF ELECTRIC CHARGES
•There are two kinds of electric charges: positive (protons) and negative
(electrons). neutron are electrical neutral.

•The unit of charge is coulomb, C

•Charge q is quantized, that is, electric charge exists as discrete

“packets,” and we can write , where N is an integer and e is the
charge on an electron.
An atom, showing source of charges
• Charge is always conserved. Charge is neither created nor destroyed.

•Like charges repel one another, Unlike charges attract one another.

Unit 1: Electrostatics 6
 Same signs repel Opposite signs attract

Charge conservation
– charge is always conserved. charge is neither created or destroyed, it can be only transferred
- When a certain amount of charge is produced on one object, an equal amount of opposite type of charge
is produced on the other object (sum of the charge is zero)

Charge quantization
- Charge q is quantized, that is, electric charge exists as discrete “packets,” and we can write
, where N is an integer and e is the charge on an electron.

Unit 1: Electrostatics 7
1.1.2 Classification of materials

• Materials can be classified as conductors, insulators and semiconductors

Conductors
- materials in which outer most electrons are loosely bound to
their atoms and move freely e.g. metals such as Cu, Al and Ag.

Insulators
- Here electrons are tightly bound to the atoms and cannot move
freely e.g. materials such as glass, rubber, and wood.

Semiconductors
- electrical properties are between those of insulators and conductors.
E.g. Silicon and germanium. The electrical properties of semiconductors
can be changed by the addition of controlled amounts of certain atoms
to the materials-i.e. by doping.

Unit 1: Electrostatics 8
1.1.3 Different ways of charging materials

Simple experiments demonstrates the existence of electric force

(a) Charging by Friction (suitable for charging insulators)

Electrons are transferred from one material to the other, e.g.
- Rubbing a glass rod with silk (Electrons are transferred from rod to silk,
- rod becomes positive)

What happens when you rub a balloon on your hair on a dry day?

Fig.1 Glass rod is rubbed with silk

For simple demonstration of charging by friction click this video link: Charging by Friction (youtube.com)

Unit 1: Electrostatics 9
(b) Charging by conduction
- more suitable for charging conductors –metals

Diagram (i)
A metal sphere with an excess of negative charge is brought- next to a neutral electroscope.

Diagram (ii)
Upon contact electrons move from the sphere to the electroscope and spread about uniformly.

Diagram (iii)
The metal sphere now has less excess negative charge and the electroscope
now has a negative charge

Note: The two objects end up with same sign of charge

Charging by conduction video click link below:

(158) Charging by Conduction - YouTube

Fig.2 charging by conduction

Electroscope is a device a device that can be used to detect charge
Unit 1: Electrostatics 10
(c) Charging by Induction
- requires no contact between objects

Fig. 3 (below)
(a) A charged Ebonite rod is brought close to metal conductor without contact

(b) If the sphere is connected to the ground, electrons will flow to ground

(c) When the ground connection is removed, the conductor will now have a positive induced charge

Fig.3 charging by conduction

Note: The net amount of electric charge produced in any charging process is zero, i.e. no net charge can be
created or destroyed only transferred- This is law of conservation of charge

See simple video of charging by induction on the link: Charging by Induction (youtube.com)

Unit 1: Electrostatics 11
Examples of charging by induction

(a) A charged balloon is brought near an insulating wall

In Fig. 4 The charged balloon induces a charge separation on the surface

of the wall due to realignment of charges in the molecules of the wall
Fig.4 A charged balloon is
brought near an insulating wall

(b) A charged rod is brought close to bits of paper

In Fig. 5, the charged rod attracts the paper because a charge separation is induced in the molecules of the paper

Fig. 5 A charged rod is Brought close to bits of paper

Unit 1: Electrostatics 12
Exercise:

1.
(a) Which of (a) or (b) is a correct diagram?
(b) Identify the charging process
(A) (B)

2. For the identified correct diagram in part 1(a) which one is the correct relation between induced charge and distance between
the two bodies?

(A) (B)

Unit 1: Electrostatics 13
1.1.4 Coulomb’s law
Charles Coulomb (1736-1806)
studied the force exerted by
one charge on another using
a
torsion balance of his own
invention.

Fig. 1.1.6
• The force exerted by one point charge on another acts along the straight line between the charges.

• The force is repulsive if the charges have the same sign and attractive if the charges have opposite signs

• The electrostatic forces are conservative, i.e. the work done by these forces depends only on the initial and final
conditions and not on the path taken by the objects

• Coulomb’s law states that: “The magnitude of the electric force that a charges exerts on another charge is directly proportional
to the product of the charges and is inversely as the square of the distance (r) separating them.
|𝑞 1||𝑞2|
|𝐹 |=𝑘 2
𝑤h𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡( 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 )
𝑟 Unit 1: Electrostatics 14
 The magnitude and direction of the electric force exerted by a charge q1 on another charge q2 a distance r away is
given by (vector notation)

⃗ 𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹 12 =𝑘 2
^
𝑟
means force on charge 1 due to charge 2
𝑟

notation
unit vector

where , also known as the Coulomb constant

means force on charge 1 due to charge 2 and means force on charge 2 due to charge 1

Note: k can be written in terms of permittivity of free space, ε0 as

Unit 1: Electrostatics 15
 Charges and masses of elementary particles

Particle Charge (C) Mass (Kg)

Electron (e) -1.602 x 10-19 9.109 x 10-31
Proton (p) +1.602 x 10-19 1.673 x 10-27
Neutron (n) 0 1.675 x 10-27

Example 1
Calculate the number of charged particles present in 1 Coulomb (1 C) of charge:

Solution:

Unit 1: Electrostatics 16
Example 2
The electron and proton of a hydrogen atom are separated (on the average) by a distance of 5.3 x 10 -11 m. Find the
magnitude of the electric force between the two particles.

Solution:

Example 3
A metal sphere A has 4 units of negative charge and an identical metal sphere B has 2 units of positive charge. The
two spheres are brought into contact. What is the final charge state on each sphere?

Solution:
In final state, every metal sphere carries 1 unit of negative charge.
•When the spheres are brought into contact, the charges try to get an equilibrium distribution on both
spheres.
•It means that same amount of positive charges neutralise the same amount of negative
charges.
•Given that, metal sphere A has 4 units of negative charge and metal sphere B has 2 units of positive
charge.
•So that, 2 units of negative charge will neutralize the 2 unit of positive charge of the second
sphere. The others 2 units of negative charge of Unitthe first sphere will distribute equally on both spheres.
1: Electrostatics 17
Hence, in final state, each metal sphere carries 1 unit of negative charge.
Example 4
Consider 3 point charges located at the corners of a right angle triangle as shown in the Figure below, where q1 = q3
=5.00 μC, q2 = -2.00 μC, and a = 0.100 m. Find the resultant (magnitude and direction) force exerted on q3 by the other
forces.
Solution: First, note the direction of the individual forces exerted by q1 and q2 on
q3 . The force F32 exerted by q2 on q3 is attractive because q2 and q3 have
opposite signs. The force F31 exerted by q1 on q3 is repulsive because both
charges are positive
|𝑞 2||𝑞3| |2.0 𝑥 10− 6 𝐶||5.0 𝑥 10− 6 𝐶|
|𝐹 32|=𝑘 2
=8.99 x 10 𝑁 . 𝑚 / 𝑐
9 2 2
2
=9.0 𝑁
𝑎 ( 0.10 𝑚 )

The magnitude of the force exerted by q1 on q3 is

x-component:
y-component:
We can also express the resultant force acting on q3 in unit vector notation as:
Maginitude: Direction,

Unit 1: Electrostatics 18
1.1.5 Practical Applications of Electrostatics

(a) Lightning rods

Unit 1: Electrostatics 19
 (b) Painting of Automobiles

Electrostatic painting is an industrial painting technique that involves creating an electrostatic charge to propel paint particles toward a
conductive metal surface. The major advantage of electrostatic painting is that paint particles can easily wrap around really difficult to
paint shapes. Since electrostatic painting reduces the amount of overspray in the air, some think that this is the best way to go about
exterior spray painting. Electrostatic painting isn’t necessary when it comes to exterior painting— especially with our products and
technique.

• The paint is charged as it comes out of the nozzle

• The paint is attracted to the car

• The car must be earthed or connected to a positive voltage

Unit 1: Electrostatics 20
 Unit Summary

Coulomb’s law:

Charge quantization:

Unit 1: Electrostatics 21