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IIT JEE Electrostatics Study Material

Complete Physics
Course - Class 11

Electrostatics is a vital branch of Physics. It is an interesting

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Introduction:The Greek word for amber is elektron; this is the

origin

of

the

terms

electricity

and

electron.

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Electrostatic is a branch of physics that deals with

the phenomena and properties of stationary or
slow-moving electric charges with no acceleration.

connected with

While its hard to see the electric charges that are

IITian Physics

responsible for electricity, its easy to see their

faculty

effects. Theyre all around us: in the sparks and

shocks of a cold winter day, the imaging process of
a xerographic copier, and the illumination of a
flashlight when you turn on its switch. Although we often take

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electricity for granted, it clearly underlies many aspects of our

modern world.

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Just imagine what life would be like if there were no electric

+91

charges and no electricity. For starters, wed probably be sitting

around campfires at night, trying to think of things to do without

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television, cell phones, or computer games. But before you

remark on just how peaceful such a pre-electronic-age existence

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would be, let me add one more sobering thought: we wouldnt

exist either. Whether its motionless as static charge or moving as
electric current, electricity really does make the world go round.

FBConnec

or

Electricity may be difficult to

see,

but

you

can

easily

observe its effects. How often

have

you

found

socks

clinging to a shirt as you

remove them from a hot
dryer or struggled to throw
away

piece

of

plastic

Related
Resources

packaging that just wont leave your hand or stay in the trash
can? The forces behind these familiar effects are electric in
nature and stem from what we commonly call static electricity.
Static electricity does more than just push things around,

Gauss Theorem

Chat with Counselor

however, as youve probably noticed while reaching for a

doorknob or a friends hand on a cold, dry day. In this section,

and Examples
GAUSS

well examine static electricity and the physics behind its

THEOREM To

intriguing forces and often painful shocks.

understand the

When a plastic comb is rubbed with your hairs, it acquires the

Gauss law first we...

property of attracting light objects such as paper pieces.

EXPERIMENT
Touching It):-

(Moving

Water

without

Capacitor and
Combinations
CAPACITORS

Unlike gravity, which always

pulls

objects

toward

Conductors

one

Conductors are

another, electric forces can be

those...

either attractive or repulsive.

You

can

experiment

with

electric forces using a thin

stream

of

water

and

Dipole

an

DIPOLE The

electrically charged comb. First,

term electric

open a water faucet slightly so

dipole stands

that the flow of water forms a

thin but continuous strand below the mouth of the faucet. Next,

for two...

give your rubber or plastic comb an electric charge by passing it

rapidly through your hair or rubbing it vigorously against a wool
sweater. Finally, hold the comb near the stream of water, just

Coulombs Law
Coulombs

below the faucet, and watch what happens to the stream. Is the

Law:- In 1785

electric force that youre observing attractive or repulsive? Why

does this force change the path of the falling water? Rubbing the
comb through your hair makes it electrically charged. What other

Charles
Coulomb...

objects can acquire and hold a charge when you rub them across
hair or fabric? Which works better: a metal object or one thats an
insulator? Why?

Charge:-

Capacitors and
Energy
Interpretation
Energy Stored

Charge is the technical term used to

in a Capacitor

indicate that an object has been

prepared so as to participate in
electrical

forces.

This

is to

be

distinguished from the common usage,

in

which

the

term

is

used

Consider a
capacitor...

Electric Field

indiscriminately for anything electrical.

For

example,

although we

Electric Field

speak

Intensity It has

colloquially of charging a battery, you

may easily verify that a battery has no
charge in the technical sense, e.g., it does notexert any electrical
force on a piece of tape that has been prepared.
There are two types of electric charge, called positive and
negative. The subatomic particle called a proton has a positive
charge, and an electron has a negative charge.
Charge comes in quantized units. All protons carry the same
amount of charge +e, and all electrons carry a charge -e. We will
discuss how charge is measured and the unit of electric charge

been observed
that...

Electric Potential
and Energy
Electric
Potential The
electric
potential is a...

below.
Like charges repel each other, unlike charges attract. The
electric force between two objects is repulsive if the objects carry
like charge, that is, if both are positively charged or both are
negatively charged. The electric force is attractive if the two
objects carry unlike charge. Here the terms like and unlike refer

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from Blog
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to the signs of the charges, not their magnitudes. So, the

expression like charges means that the two charges are both
positive or both negative.
The expression unlike charges means that one

You will feel like having

superpowers after
reading this!

charge is positive and the other is negative.

The fine tuned design:
Human Eye

Charge is conserved. The total charge on an

object is the sum of all the individual charges
(protons and electrons) carried by the object.
The total charge can be positive, negative, or zero. Charge can
move from place to place, and from one object to another, but

Your books didnt tell

you this about brain!

the total charge of the universe does not change.

View this video for more on electrostatics:-

Thank us later but you

didnt learn this about
cell cycle !

static charge and electrostatic induction.mov

Opted Biology? This is

what you have to do &
what you need not...
See More

INSULATORS,
CONDUCTORS
SEMICONDUCTORS:-

AND

Substances can be classified in terms of their ability to conduct

electric charge.

Conductor:In conductors, electric charges move freely in response to an

electric force. All other materials are called insulators and
semiconductors.

Insulator:Glass and rubber are insulators. When such materials are

charged by rubbing, only the rubbed area becomes charged, and
there is no tendency for the charge to move into other regions of
the material. In contrast, materials such as copper, aluminium,

and silver are good conductors. When such materials are

charged in some small region, the charge readily distributes itself
over the entire surface of the material.
If you hold a copper rod in your hand and rub the rod with wool
or fur, it will not attract a piece of paper. This might suggest that
a metal cant be charged. However, if you hold the copper rod
with an insulator and then rub it with wool or fur, the rod
remains charged and attracts the paper. In the first case, the
electric charges produced by rubbing readily move from the
copper through your body and finally to ground. In the second
case, the insulating handle prevents the flow of charge to
ground.

Semiconductor:Semiconductors

are

third

class of materials, and their

electrical

properties

are

somewhere between those of

insulators
conductors.
germanium

and

those

Silicon
are

of
and

well-known

semiconductors that are widely

used in the fabrication of a
variety of electronic devices.
When a rod of plastic is rubbed with fur or a glass rod is rubbed
against silk, then it is generally observed that the rods start
attracting some pieces of paper and seem to be electrically
charged. While the charge on plastic is defined to be negative,
that on silk is considered positive. The vast amount of charge in
an everyday object is usually hidden, comprising equal amount of
two kinds positive and negative. The imbalance is always small
compared to the total amounts of positive charge and negative
charge contained in the object.

Some general conceptual question:Question 1: The gift you are about to unwrap is electrically
neutral. You tear off the clingy wrapper and find that it has a
large negative charge. What charge does the gift itself have, if
any?
Answer: It has a large positive charge equal in amount to the
wrappers negative charge.
Why: Since charge is a conserved physical quantity, the wrapper
and gift must remain neutral overall even after you separate
them. The wrappers negative charge must be balanced by the
gifts positive charge.
Question 2 : When you peel a piece of adhesive tape off a glass
window, you find that the tape is attracted toward the spot it left
behind. How did the tape and glass acquire electric charges?
Answer: While the tape and glass were in contact, charge was

unevenly distributed between their surfaces. Removing the tape

merely made that imbalance more obvious.
Why: The tape and glass have different chemical affinities for
electrons and become oppositely charged whenever they touch.
In fact, the tapes stickiness itself comes from electrostatic
attraction.
Question 3 : Although any cloud may contain opposite charges,
only the violent updrafts inside thunderheads are able to
separate those charges and produce lightning. Why does such
separation lead to lightning?
Answer: That separation takes work, which appears as
electrostatic potential energy in the separated charges. The
positively charged regions of the thunderhead acquire huge
positive voltages, and the negatively charged regions acquire
huge negative voltages.
Why: When opposite charges are nearby, they dont necessarily
have much electrostatic potential energy per charge and the
voltages may be small. Separating those charges to great
distances dramatically increases their stored energy and
produces high voltages.
Question 4 : The paper in some printing presses moves through
the rollers at half a kilometre per minute. If no care is taken,
dangerous amounts of static charge can accumulate on parts of
the press. How does the moving paper contribute to that
chargingprocess?
Answer: Contact between dissimilar materials puts charge on the
paper, which then carries that charge with it to isolated parts of
the press. Enough charge can accumulate on those parts to be
dangerous.
Why: Nonconductive paper is an excellent transporter of electric
charge. Once the paper picks up a static charge by touching a
dissimilar material, it can carry that charge with it as it moves
through the press. Not surprisingly, printing presses use various
toolsto suppress this static charging.
Question 5 : The conveyor belts used to move flammable
materials often have metal threads woven into their fabric. Why
are such conducting belts important for fire safety?
Answer: An insulating conveyor belt can separate enormous
amounts of charge, leading to high voltages, sparks, and possibly
fire. A conductive belt cant carry charge with it as it moves, so no
charge accumulates.
Why: When an insulating belt has charge on its surface, that
charge must move with the belt. However, charges are mobile in
a conductive belt and dont normally move with it.

Only the negatives (elelctrons) move in solid conductors.

In a neutral object there are equal numbers of positives and
negatives.
A neutral object has no net charge.(Note: charge is a
conserved quantity, so we can't create new charge in an
interaction, just move some around.)
The lines of force are directed away from a positively
charged conductor and are directed towards a negatively
charged conductor.
A line of force starts from a positive charge and ends on a
negative charge. This signifies line of force starts from
higher potential and ends on lower potential.

Question 1:Which are the charged parts of an atom.

(a) Only electrons
(b) Only protons
(c) Neutrons only
(d) Electrons and neutrons
(e) Electrons and protons
(f) Protons and neutrons
Question 2:Electrical forces
(a) can cause objects to only attract each other
(b) can cause objects to only repel each other
(c) can cause objects to attract or repel each other
(d) have no effect on objects
Question 3:A rubber balloon possesses a positive charge. If brought near
and touched to the door of a wooden cabinet, it sticks to the
door. This does not occur with an uncharged balloon. These two
observations can lead one to conclude that the wall is _____
(a) electrically neutral
(b) negatively charged
(c) a conductor
(d) lacking electrons
Question 4:In case the charges are similar the force is of?
(a) repulsion

(b) zero value

(c) maximum value
(d) attraction
Question 5:Which of the following materials are
likely

to

exhibit

more

conductive

properties than insulating properties? _____ Explain your

answers.
(a) rubber
(b) aluminum
(c) silver
(d) plastic
(e) wet skin
Question 6:Energy can be expressed in terms of?
(a) volt
(b) Farad
(c) electron
(d) electron volt

Q.1
a

Q.2 Q.3
c

Q.4
a

Q.5
b, c & e

Q.6
d

Related Resources:You might like to refer Coulombs law.

For getting an idea of the type of questions asked, refer
thePrevious Year Question Papers.
Click here to refer the mostUseful Books of Physics.
To read more, Buy study material of Electrostatics comprising study
notes, revision notes, video lectures, previous year solved questions
etc. Also browse for more study materials on Physics here.
Complete Physics
Course - Class 12
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SumanGhoshal
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