CH 21

Chapter 21
Electric Charge
21.2 Electric Charge:
Charge is a property of particles, one of many properties, such
as mass
The SI unit of charge is the coulomb (C)

21.3 Conductors and Insulators
We can classify the materials as :
1. Conductors are materials through which charge can move freely; examples
include metals (such as copper in common lamp wire), the human body, and tap
water.
2. Nonconductors—also called insulators—are materials through which charge

cannot move freely; examples include rubber, plastic, glass, and chemically
pure water.
3. Semiconductors are materials that are intermediate between conductors and

insulators; examples include silicon and germanium in computer chips.
4. Superconductors :a class of metals and compounds whose resistance

decreases to zero when they are below a certain temperature Tc, known as the
critical temperature
21.3 Conductors and Insulators
The properties of conductors and insulators are due

to the structure and electrical nature of atoms.
Atoms consist of positively charged protons,

negatively charged electrons, and electrically neutral
neutrons. The protons and neutrons are packed tightly
together in a central nucleus.
When atoms of a conductor come together to form

the solid, some of their outermost (and so most loosely
held) electrons become free to wander about within the
solid, leaving behind positively charged atoms
( positive ions).We call the mobile electrons
conduction electrons.
There are few (if any) free electrons in a

nonconductor.
21.4 Coulomb’s Law
This force of repulsion or attraction due to the
charge properties of objects is called an electrostatic
force.
The equation giving the force for charged particles is

called Coulomb’s law:
Where: particle 1 has charge

q1 :the charge of Particle 1
q2 :the charge of particle 2
F : is the force on particle 1due to particle 2.
:is a unit vector along an axis extending through
the two particles, r is the distance between them.
k: is a constant.
The constant
The quantity 0 is called the permittivity constant

Force Magnitude.
The magnitude of the electrostatic force
in Coulomb’s law becomes
If there are n charged particles, they interact independently in pairs, and the
force on any one of them, say particle 1, is given by the vector sum
in which, F1,4 is the force acting on particle 1 due to the presence of particle
4, etc.
As with gravitational force law, the shell theorem has analogs in

electrostatics:
Current: is the rate dq/dt at which charge moves past

a point or through a region
in which i is the current (in amperes) and dq (in

coulombs) is the amount of charge moving past a point
or through a region in time dt (in seconds).
Therefore,
Sample problem 21.01 , The net force due to two other particles:
Sample problem 21.02, Equilibrium of two forces:
21.5 Charge is Quantized
The total charge was found to always be a multiple of a certain
elementary charge, “e”:
The value of this elementary charge is one of the fundamental

constants of nature, and it is the magnitude of the charge
of both the proton and the electron. The value of “e” is:
Elementary particles either carry no charge, or carry a single

elementary charge. When a physical quantity such as charge
can have only discrete values, rather than any value, we say
the quantity is quantized. It is possible, For example, to find
a particle that has no charge at all, or a charge of +10e, or -6e,
but not a particle with a charge of, say, 3.57e.
Many descriptions of electric charge use

terms that might lead you to the conclusion
that charge is a substance. Phrases like:
“Charge on a sphere”
“Charge transferred”
“Charge carried on the electron”
However, charge is a property of particles,

one of many properties, such as mass.
21.6 Charge is Conserved
If one rubs a glass rod with silk, a positive charge appears on the rod. Measurement shows that a
negative charge of equal magnitude appears on the silk. This suggests that rubbing does not
create charge but only transfers it from one body to another, upsetting the electrical neutrality of
each body during the process.
This hypothesis of conservation of charge has stood up under close examination, both for large-
scale charged bodies and for atoms, nuclei, and elementary particles.
Example 1: Radioactive decay of nuclei, in which a nucleus transforms into (becomes) a

different type of nucleus.
A uranium-238 nucleus (238U) transforms into a thorium- 234 nucleus (234Th) by emitting an
alpha particle. An alpha particle has the same makeup as a helium-4 nucleus, it has the symbol
4
He. Here the net charge is 238.
Example 2: An electron e (charge -e) and its antiparticle, the positron e (charge +e), undergo an
annihilation process, transforming into two gamma rays (high-energy light):. Here the net charge
is zero.
Example 3: A gamma ray transforms into an electron and a positron. Here the net charge is again
zero.
Selected Problems

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Chapter 21

The SI unit of charge is the coulomb (C)

2. Nonconductors—also called insulators—are materials through which charge

3. Semiconductors are materials that are intermediate between conductors and

4. Superconductors :a class of metals and compounds whose resistance

The properties of conductors and insulators are due

Atoms consist of positively charged protons,

When atoms of a conductor come together to form

There are few (if any) free electrons in a

The equation giving the force for charged particles is

Where: particle 1 has charge

The quantity 0 is called the permittivity constant

As with gravitational force law, the shell theorem has analogs in

Current: is the rate dq/dt at which charge moves past

in which i is the current (in amperes) and dq (in

The value of this elementary charge is one of the fundamental

Elementary particles either carry no charge, or carry a single

Many descriptions of electric charge use

However, charge is a property of particles,

Example 1: Radioactive decay of nuclei, in which a nucleus transforms into (becomes) a

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