Electrical Quantities
Positive & negative charges
• There are two types of electric charge: positive and
negative
• Electric charge is measured in units called coulombs
(C)
• Inside an atom, there are
• negatively charged electrons
• positively charged protons
• neutral (no charge) neutron
Positive & negative charges
• Atoms contain equal numbers of protons and
electrons as they have equal and opposite
charges
• These charges cancel out so the overall charge of
an atom is zero
Attraction and repulsion
• When two charges are close together, they exert
a force on each other, this could be:
• Attractive (the objects get closer together)
Attraction and repulsion
• When two charges are close together, they exert
a force on each other, this could be:
• Repulsive (the objects move further apart)
Static electricity
•Static electricity is a type of
electricity that happens when
electric charges build up on an
object.
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by friction
• When certain insulating solids are
rubbed against each other, they
can become electrically charged
• This is called charging by friction
• The charges remain on the
insulators and cannot
immediately flow away
• One gains a net positive charge
and the other gains a net negative
charge
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by friction
• An example of this is a plastic or
polythene rod being charged by rubbing
it with a cloth
• Both the rod and cloth are insulating
materials
• When an uncharged cloth is rubbed
against an uncharged polythene rod
• Electrons are transferred away from the
cloth to the rod
• The cloth has lost electrons so it
becomes positively charged
• The polythene rod has gained electrons
so it becomes negatively charged
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by friction
• When an uncharged cloth is
rubbed against an uncharged
acetate plastic rod, however
Electrons are transferred away fro
m the acetate rod to the cloth
• The cloth has gained electrons so it
becomes negatively charged
• The rod has lost electrons so it
becomes positively charged
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by friction
• Experiencing it in real life
• A Van de Graaff generator is a machine that
builds up static electricity.
• A Van de Graaff generator has a belt that moves
because of a motor.
• At the bottom, there is a sharply pointed metal
comb that pulls off tiny charges from the belt by
using a positive voltage.
• The belt carries the charges up. At the top, there
is another comb that lets the charges move onto
a big metal dome.
• The dome is held by an insulating support so the
charge stays on it and doesn’t leak away.
• When lots of charge builds up on the dome, it
can make sparks or even make your hair stand
up!
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by contact
• If a an charged object touches uncharged
object, they will share their charges
according to their size
• An object with a charge of −3.6 touches an
identical neutral object
• During contact, −1.8 of the objects charge
will be transferred to the neutral object and
both objects will now have a charge of
−1.8 .
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by contact
• Negatively charged object and
neutral object:
• Electrons will move from negatively
charged object (where there is
excess electrons) to neutral object.
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by contact
• An object with a charge of
+4.8 touches an identical neutral
object.
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by contact
• Positively charged object and
neutral object:
• Electrons will move from the
neutral object to the positively
charged object (where there is a
shortage of electrons).
Demonstrating Electric Charges
•Charging by induction
•This is the method of charging whereby the
object to be charged does not touch
another charged object.
•Induction is simply the “moving around of
charges”.
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by induction
• A neutral object is still neutral, since it
has the same number of positive and
negative charges, but the object
becomes polarized when the charges
are not spread out evenly .
• This polarization is temporary.
• Conductors have many delocalized
electrons which are free to move from
one side to the other side.
• This will make the one side
temporarily positive and the other
side temporarily negative.
• This is called polarisation
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by induction
• A neutral object is still neutral, since it
has the same number of positive and
negative charges, but the object
becomes polarized when the charges
are not spread out evenly .
• This polarization is temporary.
• Conductors have many delocalized
electrons which are free to move from
one side to the other side.
• This will make the one side
temporarily positive and the other
side temporarily negative.
• This is called polarisation
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by induction
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• Charging by induction
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• detecting charge using a gold-leaf
electroscope
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• detecting charge using a gold-leaf
electroscope
• When a charged object is brought
near the plate of the electroscope, the
leaf rises
• The negatively charged polythene rod
repels electrons away from the
surface of the plate down the stem
and leaf, giving them a negative
charge, hence, they repel
• The positively charged acetate rod
attracts electrons to the surface of the
metal plate from the stem and leaf,
giving them a positive charge, hence,
they repel
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• detecting charge using a gold-leaf
electroscope
• When the charged object is moved
away from the plate, the leaf falls
• Electrons in the electroscope are
no longer repelled or attracted by
the rod so they redistribute
themselves
• The stem and leaf become
electrically neutral
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• detecting charge using a gold-leaf
electroscope
• When a charged object touches the
plate of the electroscope, the leaf
stays risen
• The charge from the rod is transferred
to the metal plate and travels down
the stem and leaf of the electroscope
• The stem and leaf therefore carry the
same charge and repel each other
• The electroscope has been charged
Demonstrating Electric Charges
• detecting charge using a gold-leaf
electroscope
• When a finger touches the plate,
the leaf falls
• The charge from the electroscope
is transferred to the person and
travels to the earth
• The stem and leaf become
electrically neutral
• The electroscope has been
discharged
Electric Fields
•A region of space in which an
electric charge experiences a
force
The direction of an electric field at a point
•The direction of the force on a positive
charge at that point
Electric Field
•Charged objects create electric fields around
themselves
•This is similar to how magnets create
magnetic fields
•An electric field is a vector quantity as it has
both magnitude (strength) and direction
Electric field patterns
•Electric field lines are used to represent the
direction and magnitude of an electric field
•always directed from the positive charge to the
negative charge
Electric field patterns
• Electric field around a point charge
• Around a point charge, the electric field lines are directly
radially inwards or outwards:
• If the charge is positive (+), the field lines are radially outwards
• If the charge is negative (-), the field lines are radially inwards
Electric field around a charged conducting
sphere• The field lines around a charged conducting sphere are similar to
that of a point charge
• This is because the charges on the surface of the sphere will be
evenly distributed
• The charges are the same, so they repel
• The surface is conducting, allowing them to move
• Field lines are always perpendicular (at right angles)to the surface
of a conducting sphere
Electric field between two parallel plates
• The electric field between two parallel plates is a uniform electric field
• The field lines are:
• directed from the positive to the negative plate
• parallel
• straight lines
Electrical conductors & insulators
• Conductors
• A conductor is a material that allows charge
(usually electrons) to flow through it easily
• Some examples of conductors are:
• silver
• copper
• aluminium
• steel
Electrical conductors & insulators
• Conductors
• The best conductors tend to be metals
• On the atomic scale, metallic conductors are made up
of positively charged metal ions with their outermost
electrons delocalised
• This means the electrons are free to move
• Metals conduct electricity very well because:
• Current is the rate of ow of electrons
• So, the more easily electrons are able to flow, the
better the conductor
Electrical conductors & insulators
• Conductors
Insulators
• An insulator is a material that has no free charges
and,hence does not allow the flow of charge through
it very easily
• Some examples of insulators are:
• rubber
• plastic
• glass
• wood
Insulators
• Some non-metals, such as wood, allow some charge
to pass through them
• Although they are not very good at conducting, they
do conduct a little in the form of static electricity
• For example, two insulators can build up charge on
their surfaces and if they touch this would allow that
charge to be conducted away
Conductors and insulators
Measuring current
Measuring current
Measuring current
Measuring current
Measuring current
Emf:energy that pushes electric charges
(electrons) through a circuit.
• Potential difference is the difference in energy between two points
in a circuit.
• It tells us how much energy each charge loses or uses as it moves
through a part of the circuit, like a light bulb.
thermal and resistor