PHYS 2012 Electromagnetic Properties of Matter

Lecturer: A/Prof. Serdar Kuyucak

19 Lectures plus Mid-term quiz in class

All lectures are in LT5
Times: Tue. 10am, Wed. 12pm, Thu. 10am
2 Assignments: Due Oct. 11 and Nov. 1, 2.5% each
Mid-term quiz (in class): Wed. Oct. 17, 12pm, 7.5%
Final examination (3 hour paper) Percentage mark 25%
for the EMP part
The Unit of Study (UoS) outlines are available to students
through Canvas and also on the School of Physics web
pages:

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/current/units_offered_yr2.shtml

The UoS explains the assessments for the units, outlines

the lecture and lab schedule, lists the textbooks and
recommended references, and provide detailed module
descriptions.
Full lecture notes (i.e. contents of slides) will be available
on Canvas each week.

The lecture notes and problem sets prepared by Ian

Cooper are available on Canvas. The problems for the
tutorials will be assigned from these sets. Solutions to the
problems will be available towards the end of the course
on Canvas.

Tutorials are on Tue. 4-5 pm in Slade lecture theater.

Tutor (Samira Tasnim) will go over the assigned problems
each week.
Duty tutor (Samira) will be available on Fri. 10-11 am in
Quadrangle, Room S223.
 Motivation for the course

1. What are the biggest challenges facing humanity

today?

2. What they have got to do with electromagnetic

properties of matter?
 Biggest challenges

• Climate change
• Energy
• Clean water supply
• Resources
• Diseases
• Species extinction
• Population growth
• Global conflicts and wars
 Global land surface temperatures

R. Rohde et al.,
Geoinfor. Geostat:
An Overview 1, 1 (2013);
http://www.scitechnol.com
/GIGS/GIGS-1-101.pdf

Figure shows 10-year

running averages from 1750.

The new estimate made by the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project is shown in black,
with shaded areas representing uncertainties of one and two standard deviations.
The curve compares well with land-only averages calculated for times after 1850 by three other
groups: the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia (red); NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies (purple); and the National Climatic Data Center (green).
Energy consumption
Energy consumption in 2011
 Have we reached peak oil?

Peak oil prediction from Hubbert curve US oil production

Predictions for peak oil
While resources decline, population grows
Can we climb over the hill?
 Transport problem
Petrol cars
Petrol packs a lot of energy - energy density: u = 46 MJ/kg
Average power needed to drive a car P = 20 kW
Energy needed to drive a car for an hour:
20 kW-hour = 20x103 x 3600 = 72 MJ
The amount of petrol needed to drive a car for an hour assuming
100% efficiency:
72/46 = 1.6 kg
Actual efficiency of car engines: e  0.3
Thus the amount of petrol needed is 1.6/0.3 = 5.3 kg (or 7 liters)
 Transport problem
Electric cars
Specifications of lead-acid batteries used in cars:
Mass: 20 kg, Voltage: V = 12 V, Capacity: Q = 70 A-hour,
Average current: P = V.I  20x103 = 12 I  I = 1667 A
A single battery provides 70 A for an hour, so to get 1667 A for an
hour, we need 1667/70  24 batteries weighing 20x24 = 480 kg!
Recharging after an hour of driving is not very satisfactory.
A petrol car with 50 liters of petrol could be driven for 7 hours.
To get the same range in an electric car would require 7x24 = 168
batteries weighing 20x168 = 3360 kg!
Note that the efficiency of electric motors is 0.9, which would
increase the above estimates slightly.
 Transport problem
Electric cars
Lead-acid batteries provide the cheapest form of storage for
electrical energy but are too heavy. Clearly we need lighter
batteries that store more energy and cost less.
 Transport problem
Are there alternatives to electric cars?
Ultimately, the energy has to come from sun.
• Biofuels (e.g. ethanol): Energy density 1/3 lower than petrol.
Not very efficient conversion of the energy from the sun to a
transport fuel. Also using food products for transport purposes
is not very desirable.
• Hydrogen may be a substitute fuel, however, there are
problems with efficiency and cost that makes this proposal less
attractive at present. Production of hydrogen requires
electricity (that would be harnessed from the sun), and using
electric power directly in cars would be much more efficient.
 We need to convert the solar energy to electricity in the most
efficient way possible and find ways to store it in large scale.
 Diseases and drugs

Electrical signaling control many processes in our bodies:

• Neurons communicate with other neurons and muscle cells via
action potentials.
• Heart beat is maintained via cardiac action potentials
 Diseases and drugs
Most of the diseases are caused by dysfunction of proteins in our
bodies due to environmental and genetic factors.
Examples:
Alzheimer’s disease: aggregation off A-beta proteins in the brain.
Multiple sclerosis (MS): immune cells attacking myelin sheaths in
neurons.
Heart diseases: dysfunction of sodium and potassium channels in
heart.
Drugs can be developed to modify/moderate behaviour of such
dysfunctional proteins. This requires accurate modelling of
protein-ligand interactions in water, which are electrostatic in
nature.
 Finding a drug for MS
Progression of MS can be prevented by blocking the potassium
channel Kv1.3, which prevents proliferation of immune cells.
High affinity blocker ShK toxin from sea anemone is a promising
candidate but it also blocks Kv1.1 channel in the nervous system.
Two decades of research by several labs to develop a Kv1.3-
selective analogue of ShK has not been entirely successful.
Accurate models of Kv1.x-ShK complexes can be obtained by
considering electrostatic interactions between the channel
protein and the toxin peptide in water.
Such physics-based models have led to novel analogues that could
solve the selectivity problem and deliver successful therapies for
treatment of MS.
 Finding a drug for MS
An accurate model of the Kv1.1-ShK complex reveals an ionic
bridge between E() and K(+) residues which does not occur in
Kv1.3-ShK. Thus mutating K(+) to a neutral residue does the trick!
 Lecture 2
Electrostatics - basics
 Static electricity
Objects can become charged when the atoms that make up the
object gain or lose electrons.

glass rod + rubber rod -

e- e-

silk - wool +

When glass is rubbed with a silk cloth, electrons are removed

from the glass rod and it becomes positively charged while the
silk acquires a negative charge. When a hard rubber rod is
rubbed with wool it gains electrons to become negative and
the wool becomes positive
 Charges have polarity
Electrons repel electrons, and protons repel protons, but
electrons attract protons  objects with the same charge repel
each other; objects with the opposite charge attract each other.
Any charged object will attract a neutral object (why?)

charged
rod

neutral pieces
of paper
+ + + -
same charges opposite charges any charged object
neutral repel attract will attract a neutral
object
 Charges are quantized and conserved
Charge quantization: Free charges occur in units of e = 1.6x10-19 C.
(Quarks in hadrons occur in units of e/3 but they are not free.)
At present, we have no explanation for charge quantization.
If magnetic charges (similar to electric charges) had existed in
Nature, that would provide an explanation. But so far no magnetic
charges have been observed. So we just accept quantization of
charge as an observational fact.
Charge conservation: The total charge in an isolated system
remains constant. Note that this applies to the sum of all the
charges in a system, and not to the individual charges, e.g., one
can destroy a particle-antiparticle pair with charges +e and –e
without changing the total charge. Again this is an observational
fact verified from countless experiments in particle physics.
 Coulomb’s law
The force between two point charges q1 and q2, a distance r apart is
given by Coulomb’s Law (from which everything else follows!):

1 𝑞1 𝑞2
F= 2 𝑟  unit vector in the direction of r
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟

Here 0 is the permittivity of free space given by (SI units)

0 = 8.85×10-12 C2.N-1.m-2
What happens when there is a third charge?
Superposition principle: The force on q1 due to charges q2 and q3 at
positions at r12 and r13 is given by the sum of the individual forces.

Ftotal = F12 + F13

This can be generalized to an arbitrary number of charges.
 Electric field
From Colomb’s law, we can define the electric field of a charge 𝑞1
as force per unit charge at position r

F 1 𝑞1
E= = 2 𝑟
𝑞2 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟

So that the force on a charge 𝑞2 at r is given by F = 𝑞2 E

The electric field can be represented by electric field lines. The direction is in the
same direction as the force that would act on a + charge at any point in the field.

The field lines emerge from + + + + + +

charges and disappear into – + -

charges. The greater the density
of the electric field lines, the - - - - -
greater the electric field
Electric field Electric field
strength. POSTIVE charge NEGATIVE charge
Uniform electric field
 Why do we need electric field?
Ultimately we want the forces acting on charges so that we can
determine their motion. So why do we take a back step and
introduce an electric field?
1. In a typical macroscopic system there are too many charged
particles which makes direct use of Coulomb’s law cumbersome.
2. Such systems are more conveniently described by a continuous
charge density, and calculation of forces requires doing an
integral over this charge density.
3. It makes more sense to do this integral once and determine the
electric field everywhere. Force on a charge q at r is simply given
by F = q E(r). Otherwise, an integral has to be done for every
new position of the charge.
4. Such a separation of charges from sources is called “divide and
conquer” principle.
 Gauss’s law
The flux of electric field through a closed surface is equal to the net
charge inside the surface divided by 0.
𝑞𝑖𝑛
E. 𝑛𝑑𝑎 =
𝜀0
• This is trivially satisfied for a sphere around a point charge q
1 𝑞 2 𝑞
𝑟. 𝑟4𝜋𝑟 =
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 2 𝜀0

• Displacing the charge from the center yields the same result
because the area is given by da = r2 d and r2 is cancelled by 1/r2
from the field.
• Using the superposition principle, this can be generalized to an
arbitrary charge distribution.
• Finally the surface can be generalized to an arbitrary shape.
 Uses of Gauss’s law
Electric field has 3 components, so it can be determined from
Gauss’s law only in highly symmetric situations where E depends
only on one variable, e.g.
• Spherical charge distribution (E depends on r).
• Line charge (cylindrical symmetry, E depends on r)
• Planar charge (E is uniform)
A useful result that follows from Gauss’s low is the local electric field
at the surface of a flat charge distribution s:
Shrink to 0
A E
s𝐴 s
s 2EA= E=
𝜀0 2𝜀0

E Note the jump: Eup  Edown = s/𝜀0

 Electric field of a capacitor
A capacitor is formed by bringing two metal plates close together.
Capacitors are used for storing electrical energy and are essential
components of electronic devices.
Electric field of a capacitor can be found using Gauss’s law and the
superposition principle.
Area: A, thickness: d, charge: q = s A
s s
E E =  =0
2𝜀0 2𝜀0

s
s s s
E= + =
d 2𝜀0 2𝜀0 𝜀0
+s
s s
E= + =0
E 2𝜀0 2𝜀0
 Electric potential energy
The work done in moving a particle from point 1 to point 2 using a
force field F is given by
F
𝑟2 𝑟2

𝑊= F. 𝑑 𝑙 = 𝐹𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑑𝑙
1 dl 2
𝑟1 𝑟1

Potential energy is defined as the work done in this process

𝑈12 = 𝑈(𝑟2) − 𝑈(𝑟1) = 𝑊
We can define the electrical potential energy of a charge q moving
under an electric field E similarly
𝑟2 𝑟2

𝑈12 = − 𝑞E. 𝑑𝑙 = −𝑞 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑑𝑙

𝑟1 𝑟1
 Examples of potential energy
1. Work done in charging a capacitor. How much work needs to be
done to move a small charge dq from the negative to the positive
plate of a capacitor which has charges +q and –q on the plates
(assume q>>dq)?
s qd
𝑑𝑊 = 𝑑𝑞𝐸𝑑 = 𝑑𝑞 𝑑 = 𝑑𝑞
𝜀0 𝜀0 𝐴
Integrating this expression from 0 to a final charge of Q, we obtain
𝑄
qd Q 2d
𝑊= 𝑑𝑞 =
𝜀0 𝐴 2𝜀0 𝐴
0
2. Potential energy between two charges q1 and q2, separated by a
distance r. Work done to bring them together
𝑟
−1 𝑞1 𝑞2 1 𝑞1 𝑞2
𝑊= 2
𝑑𝑟 =
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟

 Electric potential
In the same spirit of introducing the electric field, we can introduce
an electric potential, which corresponds to the potential energy per
unit charge
𝑟2
𝑈12
𝑉12 = 𝑉 𝑟2 − 𝑉 𝑟1 = =− E. 𝑑 𝑙
𝑞
𝑟1
Note that, like the potential energy, electric potential is always
defined as a difference, or with respect to a reference point.
Because the electric potential is a scalar quantity, it is easier to
calculate compared to the electric field, which has three
components. It is customary in realistic applications to determine
the electric potential of a system first, from which the electric field
can be calculated relatively easily via differentiation.
 Electric field from potential
Since the electric potential is given by the line integral of the electric
field, conversely, the electric field can be obtained from the
differentiation of the electric potential. In a 1 dimensional case (i.e.
potential depends on only one variable, say x), we simply have
𝑑𝑉
E=− 𝑥
𝑑𝑥
This can be generalized to the 3-dimensional case using the gradient
operator
  
 = grad = 𝑥 + 𝑦 + 𝑧
𝑥 𝑦 𝑧

𝑉 𝑉 𝑉
E = −V = − 𝑥+ 𝑦+ 𝑧
𝑥 𝑦 𝑧
 Examples of electric potential
1. Capacitor. Using the negatively charged plate as the reference point,
the potential inside a capacitor is given by
𝑥 𝑥
s q
𝑉(𝑥) = − E. 𝑑𝑙 = 𝐸 𝑑𝑥 = 𝑥 = 𝑥
𝜀0 𝜀0 𝐴
0 0

This is a typical ramp potential found in cases where the electric field
is uniform. The potential difference between the plates is
𝑞𝑑
𝑉12 =
𝜀0 𝐴
2. Electric potential of a charge q (using infinity as the reference pt.)
𝑟
−1 𝑞 1 𝑞
𝑉= 2
𝑑𝑟 =
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟

 Tutorial problems for week 1
(E127, E815, and E906 from the problem set )
E127. Capacitors rarely consist of only two plates but are usually made up of
multiple plates. For example, the odd plates are connected to one terminal of a
battery and the even plates to the other terminal. If there are M plates (M even:
2, 4, …), each with area A and separation d, derive an expression for the
capacitance C of such a capacitor. You may ignore edge effects.

E815. One conductive plate has a charge –Q and another plate has a charge
+1.2Q. The plates are separated from each other by a distance d to form an air-
filled parallel plate with area A.
(a) What is the capacitance C of the capacitor?
(b) What is the electric field between the plates of the capacitor?
(c) What is the potential difference between the plates of the capacitor?
(d) Draw a diagram showing the charge distribution on each plate using 10 minus
signs (-) and 12 plus signs (+) to represent the charges –Q and +1.2Q. Draw the
electric field lines to represent to the electric field between the plates. For the
conductive plates, indicate the region where the electric field is zero. Answers can
be expressed in terms of all or some of the quantities Q, d, A and 0.
(continued)
E906. One conductive plate has a charge –Q and another plate has a charge +Q.
The plates are separated from each other by a distance d to form an air-filled
parallel plate with area A. A thin conductive plate of thickness t (t < d) is placed
between the two plates.
(a) What is the potential difference between the plates?
(b) What is the electric field between the plates of the capacitor?
(c) What is the capacitance C of the capacitor?
(d) Draw a diagram showing the charge distribution on each conductive plate using
10 minus signs (-) and 10 plus signs (+) to represent the charges –Q and +Q. Draw
the electric field lines to represent to the electric field between the plates. For the
conductive plates, indicate the region where the electric field is zero. Answers can
be expressed in terms of all or some of the quantities Q, d, A and 0.
 Lecture 3
Conductors and energy storage
 Conductors vs insulators
Conductors are materials that allow electrons to move freely
between atoms. Thus any excess charge placed on a conductor will
quickly distribute itself across the entire surface.
Insulators are materials that do not have free electrons so electrons
cannot move between atoms. When charge is transferred on an
insulator, it will remain at the same location.
Semiconductors are insulators that turn into conductors when a
biasing voltage is applied.
 Properties of conductors
• The surface of the conductor is at the same potential (otherwise
charges would move). From the uniqueness of the potential, we
must have the same potential inside the conductor as well.
• Because the derivative of a constant vanishes, the electric field
inside a conductor is uniformly zero.
• There can be no excess charges inside a conductor – they must
be all on the surface (otherwise there would be an electric field
inside the conductor).
• Any excess charge placed on a conductor will distribute itself so
as to keep the electric potential constant on the surface and to
minimize the potential energy (e.g. conducting spheres).
• Work is done in order to place excess charge on a conductor,
which is stored as potential energy. This potential energy can be
retrieved later to do useful work.
 Conductor in an electric field
When a conductor is placed in an electric field, charges on it
redistribute themselves such that the final electric field inside the
conductor vanishes. For example, if a uniform electric field E0 is
applied in the x direction, the polarization charges on the conductor
create a uniform field E0 in the –x direction, which cancels this field.
 Parallel plate capacitors
We have already derived an expression for the parallel plate
capacitor relating the voltage difference between the plates V to the
charge on the plates Q
𝑄𝑑
𝑉=
𝜀0 𝐴
Capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the charge to voltage ratio.
For a parallel plate capacitor we have (SI units, Farad)
𝑄 𝜀0 𝐴
𝐶= =
𝑉 𝑑
For a capacitor with A = 1 m2 and d = 1 cm, we obtain
C = 8.85×10-12 ×1/10-2 = 8.85×10-10 F  1 nF
How much energy can be stored in such a capacitor?
 Energy stored in a capacitor
We have also derived an expression for the energy stored in a
parallel plate capacitor (recall U = W):
Q 2d
𝑈=
2𝜀0 𝐴
Using the definition of capacitor in the above equation, we can
express the potential energy in terms C and Q or C and V
Q2
1 2
𝑈= = 𝐶𝑉
2𝐶 2
The potential energy stored depends critically on the maximum
voltage one can have. This is determined by the breakdown field
which is around 10 MV/m or 0.1 MV/cm for air (and most other
insulators). Using this value and C we obtained, we have for U
U = 0.5 ×10-9 ×1010 = 5 J (72 MJ needed for an hour trip!)
 Note on breakdown fields
Breakdown field 𝐸𝑏𝑑 is defined as the field strength that strips
electrons from atoms leading to charge loss from the plates. Thus
the maximum voltage for the parallel plate capacitor is given by

𝑉max = 𝑑𝐸𝑏𝑑
Substituting this in the equation for the potential energy, we obtain

1 2 𝜀0 𝐴 2
𝜀0 𝐴𝑑
𝑈 = 𝐶𝑉 = 𝑑𝐸𝑏𝑑 = 𝐸𝑏𝑑2
2 2𝑑 2

This expression shows that reducing the thickness of a capacitor is

actually counterproductive for increasing the potential energy
stored in the capacitor! The volume of the capacitor V=Ad and 𝐸𝑏𝑑
control the maximum energy that we can store in the capacitor.
 Breakdown field of materials
When the breakdown electric field is exceeded, electrons are
stripped from the molecules of the material between the plates and
it no longer behaves as an insulator. The values of breakdown fields
for several materials are listed in the table

Material Dielectric Dielectric

constant strength V.m-1
Vacuum 1.00000
Air 1.00059 ~ 3106
paper 3.7 16106
polystyrene 2.5 24106
Barium titanate 500 - 6000 ~ 2106
Titanium dioxide ceramics 15 - 500 ~ 20106
Mica 3-6 ~200106

Using materials like mica could help. But before that we need to
consider the effect polarization (dielectric const.) on capacitance.
 Conducting sphere
Charge q placed on a conducting sphere of radius a will be
distributed uniformly over the surface. The electric potential on the
surface (and inside) is
1 𝑞
𝑉=
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑎
The potential energy to bring a small charge dq from infinity to the
surface of the sphere is
1 𝑞
𝑑𝑈 = 𝑉𝑑𝑞 = 𝑑𝑞
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑎
Integrating this expression from 0 to a final charge of Q gives the
potential energy stored in the conducting sphere
𝑄
1 1 Q2
𝑈= 𝑞 𝑑𝑞 =
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑎 4𝜋𝜀0 2𝑎
0
 Energy stored in a conducting sphere
Capacitance of a conducting sphere with charge Q is obtained from
its potential as
𝑄
𝐶 = = 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑎
𝑉
For a sphere with an area of 1 m2 the radius is a = 0.3 m, and the
capacitance is

C = 4×3.14×8.85×10-12×0.3 = 30 pF
Assuming a breakdown voltage of 1 MV, the maximum potential
energy that can be stored on the sphere is given by
U = 0.5 ×30 × 10-12 ×1012 = 15 J
This is similar to the value obtained for the parallel plate capacitor.
 In order to increase the energy stored in a capacitor, we need to
look at other factors than the geometrical ones.
 Energy stored in electric field
We have seen that the energy stored in a capacitor with volume V is
given by
𝜀0 2
𝑈 = 𝑉𝐸
2
Because E is uniform in the capacitor, we can write U as a volume
integral
𝜀0
𝑈= 𝐸2 𝑑𝑉
2 𝑉

This expresses the potential energy in terms of the E field and has
general validity, e.g., for the conducting sphere, we obtain
2 ∞
𝜀0 𝑄 1 𝑄2 2 𝑑𝑟 =
1 Q 2
𝑈= 𝑑𝑉 = 4𝜋𝑟
2 𝑉 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 2 32𝜋 2 𝜀0 𝑟4 4𝜋𝜀0 2𝑎
𝑎
 Capacitors in parallel and series
Capacitors in parallel
+Q1 -Q1
C1
Q =Q1 +Q2

+Q2 -Q2
C2  Ceq = C1 +C2

V
V

Capacitors in series
Q
+Q -Q
1/Ceq = 1/C1 +1/C2
+Q -Q

C1 C2
V
V
Capacitors used in electronics industry
 Mini Quiz
Q1. Electric field inside a uniformly charged spherical shell with
charge q and radius a is:
1 𝑞 1 𝑞
a) E= 𝑟 b) E= 2 𝑟 c) vanishes
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟 2 4𝜋𝜀0 𝑎
Q2. Electric potential inside a spherical shell held at potential V.

a) uniform value V b) V.a/r c) V.r/a

Q3. Same question as Q1 but for a cubic shell of size a.

a) vanishes b) uniform but non-zero c) non-uniform

Q4. Same question as Q2 but for a cubic shell held at potential V.

a) vanishes b) uniform value V c) non-uniform

 Mini Quiz (cont.)
Q5. In a parallel plate capacitor, the plates have charges +Q and –Q.
If the charge on the positive plate is doubled to +2Q while keeping
the other plate at –Q, its capacitance will
a) be doubled b) increase by 50% c) not change
Q6. In a parallel plate capacitor, which charge configuration would
maximize the stored potential energy:
a) +Q on both plates b) +Q and –Q on the two plates
c) +Q and 0 on the two plates