INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING

CCIT 4076 1920S2

Chapter 2b: Physics for Engineering: Electromagnetism

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Table of Content
• Charge
• Lightning
• Coulomb’s Law
• Electric field
• Electromagnetism
• Induced current
• Magnetic field
• Electromagnetic radiation
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Electric Charge
• Recall that fundamental particles carry something called
electric charge
• protons have exactly one unit of positive charge
• electrons have exactly one unit of negative charge

• Electromagnetic force is one of the basic interactions in

nature
• like charges experience repulsive force
• opposite charges attracted to each other (like gravity)

• Electrical current is flow of charge (electrons)

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Charge Balance
• Neutral atoms are made of equal quantities of positive and
negative charges
• Neutral carbon has 6 protons, 6 electrons, (& neutrons)

• Electrons can be stripped off of atoms

• Electrons occupy the vulnerable outskirts of atoms

• Usually charge flows in such a way as to maintain neutrality

• Excess positive charge attracts excess negative charge
• Your body has 51028 positive charges and 51028 negative charges,
balanced within millions or billions
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Charge Separation
• Can separate charges by rubbing:
• feet on carpet
• atmosphere across ground
• silk on glass
• balloon on hair!

• Insulators keep charges where they are (no flow)

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Induced Charge
• Charge can also be coaxed to redistribute itself within an
object

Result: Attraction!

– – –
+ – – – – – –
+ – – – –
+ –
–
– + Charged rod approaches sphere
+
–
+
–
– + charge attracted to – charge in rod
–

– charge repelled by rod

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Static Electricity
• Rubbing action redistributes charge (unbalanced)

• If enough charge builds up, we get discharge

• Air spark is actually due to “breakdown” of air

• neutral air molecules separate into ions (electrons are stripped
away)
• current can then flow through the “plasma-field” air
• In essence, air becomes a “wire” for a short bit
• this happens at 3 million volts per meter
• 1 cm spark then at 30,000 volts
• typical finger-spark may involve a few billion electrons
• hold onto key to reduce pain of spark
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Lightning
• Lightning happens when heavy
negatively charge particles sink
to the bottom of the cloud
• When negative and positive
particles grow large enough it
releases a spark known as
lightning
Conducting
wire
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Lightning Rods
• Lightning rods
• provide safe channel for lightning away from house

Charges are attracted to tip of rod, and

“electric field” is highly concentrated
there.
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“Electrostatic” Force
• Two charges, Q1 and Q2, separated by distance r exert a force
on each other:

F = (k·Q1·Q2) / r2

• k is a constant (9109), Q is in Coulombs, r in meters

• One unit of charge (proton) has Q = 1.610-19 Coulombs

• Looks a lot like Newton’s gravitation in form

• Electron and proton attract each other 1040 times stronger

electrically than gravitationally!
• Good thing charge is usually balanced!
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Coulomb’s Law Illustrated

• Like charges repel , unlike charges attract

+ +
r

– +

– –

If charges are of same magnitude (and same separation),

all the forces will be the same magnitude, with different directions.
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Example
• Calculate the electrostatic force between two spheres of
radius r = 5 cm, separated by 1.0 m, one with a charge of
+1 C and the other with a -1 C charge.
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Coulomb’s Law vs Law of Gravitation

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Electric Field
• Can think of electric force as establishing “field” telling
particles which way to move and how fast

Electric “field lines” tell a positive

charge which way to move.

For example, a positive charge itself

has field lines pointing away from it,
because this is how a positively-charged
“test-particle” would respond if placed
in the vicinity (repulsive force).
+

Run Away!
+
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Example Electric Fields Around Charges

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Electric Fields in Circuits

• Point away from positive terminal, towards negative
• Channeled by conductor (wire)
• Electrons flow opposite field lines (neg. charge)

E
electrons & direction of motion
E Electric field direction
E

E
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Electron Beams; Cathode Ray Tubes

(CRTs)
• Televisions, Oscilloscopes, Monitors, etc. use an
electron beam steered by electric fields to light up the
(phosphorescent) screen at specified points

screen
+ + + + + + +
cathode emitter

E-field
electron beam
- - - - - - -
metal plates
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Electromagnetism
• Electricity and magnetism are different facets of
electromagnetism
• a moving electric charge produces magnetic fields
• changing magnetic fields move electric charges

• This connection first explained by Faraday, Maxwell and

Einstein
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Magnetic fields from electricity

• A static distribution of charges produces an electric field
• Charges in motion (an electrical current) produce a
magnetic field
• electric current is an example of charges (electrons) in motion
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Electromagnets
• Arranging wire in a coil and running a current through
produces a magnetic field that looks a lot like a bar
magnet
• called an electromagnet
• putting a real magnet inside, can shove the magnet back and
forth depending on current direction: called a solenoid
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Induced Current
• A changing magnetic field produces an electric current
in a loop surrounding the field
• called electromagnetic induction, or Faraday’s Law
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Induced Current
• Faraday: A steady magnetic field produces no current. (Fig. b)

• Faraday: A changing magnetic field does produce a current.

• This current is called induced current. (Figs. a and c)

• Induced emf is produced by a changing magnetic field.

+ + +
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The Electromagnetic Connection

• A changing magnetic field produces an electric field, and
a changing electric field produces a magnetic field.

• Electric and Magnetic fields can produce forces on

charges

• An accelerating charge produces electromagnetic waves

(radiation)

• Both electric and magnetic fields can transport energy

• Electric field energy used in electrical circuits, e.g., released in
lightning
• Magnetic field carries energy through transformer, for example
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Electric field vs Magnetic field

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Electric field vs Magnetic field

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Magnetic field and Magnetic force

• A magnetic field strength B is defined as the effective region surrounding a
magnet, in which magnetic force is exerted.

• The magnitude of the force FM on a charge q moving in the magnetic field

is given by
FM = qvBsinɵ

where ɵ is the angle between v and B. (FM is in newtons, q is in coulombs,

v is in ms-1 and B is in a unit called tesla (T)) (Remark: 1T = 1 Wbm-2). A
tesla can be expressed as weber per square meter.
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Electric field vs Magnetic field

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Electromagnetic Radiation

• Interrelated electric and magnetic fields traveling through

space

• Electromagnetic waves travel through empty space.

• All electromagnetic radiation travels at c = 3108 m/s in

vacuum – the cosmic speed limit!
• real number is 299792458.0 m/s exactly
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Electromagnetic Spectrum
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Examples of Electromagnetic Radiation

• AM and FM radio waves (including TV signals)
• Cell phone communication links
• Microwaves
• Infrared radiation
• Light
• X-rays
• Gamma rays
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Uses of Electromagnetic Waves

• Communication systems
• One-way and two-way
• Radar
• Cooking (with microwaves)
• Medical Imaging (X rays)
• “Night Vision” (infrared)
• Astronomy (radio, wave, IR, visible, UV, gamma)

All that we experience through our eyes is conveyed by

electromagnetic radiation…
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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

• Relationship between frequency, speed and wavelength
v = f ·l or l =v / f

f is frequency (Hz or s-1), l is wavelength (m), is speed (m/s)

c = f ·l
f is frequency, l is wavelength, c is speed of light

• Different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation are better suited to

different purposes

• The frequency of a radio wave determines its propagation characteristics

through various media
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Example
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US Frequency Allocation – the FCC

“Radio” frequency-space is allocated to the hilt!
Here’s a sample region from 300–600 MHz

(300 MHz has a wavelength of 1 meter)

International allocation gets tricky