What is Electrostatics?

What is Electrostatics?

Electrostatics is a field of physics that studies the phenomena and behaviours of stationary or slow-moving electric charges. Coulomb’s law describes electrostatic processes, which result from the forces that electric charges apply to one another. even if forces generated by electrostatics appear to be rather little....

What is Electric Charge?

Electric charge is a fundamental property of matter that determines how it interacts with electromagnetic fields. When charges are stationary, they produce an electric field around them, and when in motion, they produce a magnetic field as well. Electric charge comes in two types: positive and negative. Like charges repel whereas unlike charges attract....

Coulomb’s law

Coulomb’s law states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force F between two point charges q1 and q2 is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Mathematically, Coulomb’s law is expressed as:...

What is Electric Field?

The electric field at a given point is defined as the force per unit charge experienced by a small positive test charge q0 placed at that point. Mathematically, the electric field E due to a point charge q is given by:...

Electric Flux

Electric flux quantifies the number of electric field lines passing through a surface. Mathematically, electric flux through a surface S is defined as the surface integral of the electric field E over the surface:...

What is an Electric Dipole?

An electric dipole consists of two equal and opposite electric charges separated by a distance. These charges create an electric field around the dipole. The magnitude of the electric dipole moment, denoted by p, is the product of the magnitude of either charge q and the separation distance 2a between them:...

Conductors, Insulators, and Semiconductors

Conductors: Conductors are materials with low electrical resistivity, strong electrical conductivity, and ease of electricity conductivity. Charge can flow across conductors when a voltage is supplied to them....

Surface Charge Density

Surface charge density refers to the amount of electric charge per unit area on a two-dimensional surface. It is a measurement of the total electric charge that has built up on a surface....

Electric Potential (V)

Electric potential (also known as voltage) is the difference in potential energy per unit charge between two points in an electric field. It is a scalar with the volt (V) as its unit....

Equipotential Surface

An equipotential surface is a region in space where all points have the same potential. Although it is typically used in reference to scalar potentials, vector potentials can also be considered....

Charged Particles in Electric Field

When a charged particle enters an electric field, it accelerates in the direction of the field lines. The direction of the electric field is always the force acting on the particle. The particle in the electric field will follow a straight path. However, the particle will either be attracted to or repelled by the charge depending on its polarity. A charged particle experiences force regardless of its velocity. The particle’s path is bent by the field, which is perpendicular to the velocity....

Combined Field Due to Two Point Charges

If there are many source charges, each contributes to the electric field at every site in their area. The electric field at a point in space close to the source charges is the vector sum of the electric fields caused by each source charge. Assume that the set of source charges consists of two charged particles. The electric field vector resulting from the first charged particle plus the electric field vector resulting from the second charged particle equals the electric field at point P....

Electric Lines of Force

Electric lines of force are imaginary lines or curves formed across an electric field. The direction that a tiny free positive charge will go along a line of force is known as its direction. Since two tangents can be traced to the two lines of force at the intersection, electric lines of force never cross. This indicates that there will be two electric field directions at the intersection, which is not feasible....

Electrostatic Formulas

The important formulas required in Electrostatics are as follows:...

Conclusion: Electrostatics

Electric charge governs interactions with electromagnetic fields. Charges exist as positive and negative forms, with like charges repelling and unlike ones attracting. Important properties include quantization, conservation, and additivity. Coulomb’s law describes force between charges, while the superposition principle states the total force on a charged particle is the sum of forces exerted by each charge. Electric field lines illustrate field direction, and Gauss’ law relates total electric flux through a closed surface to enclosed charge....

Solved Examples on Electrostatics

Example 1: Consider a sphere of radius R with a total charge Q uniformly distributed throughout its volume. Find the electric field inside the sphere....

Practice Problems on Electrostatics

1. A point charge Q=+4μC is located at the centre of a spherical Gaussian surface of radius r=0.1m. Calculate the electric flux through the Gaussian surface....

Electrostatics FAQs

What is electric charge?...