UNIT-I ELECTROSTATICS 9 marks

1. Define (i) charging by induction (ii) Charging by touch (ii) Charging by friction.
Ans: (i) charging by induction: It is a charging method in which a neutral object is charged without actually
touching another charged object. The charged particle is held near a neutral or uncharged conductive material
that is grounded on a neutrally charged material.
(ii) Charging by touch: When a charged body is made to touch an uncharged body, some of the charge from the
charged body is transferred to the other body. This is called charging by touch.
(iii) Charging by friction: When two bodies are rubbed together, the friction between the bodies causes transfer
of electrons from one body to another and as a result both bodies become charged. This type of charging is
called charging by rubbing.

2. State law of conserva on of charge.

Ans: It states that the total charge for an isolated system should always remain constant.

3. State quan sa on of charge.

Ans: It states that the total charge on a body should be an integral mul ple of elementary
charge, e. It can be express as Q = ne where Q = total charge of the body.
e = charge of an electron
4. Calculate the number of excess electrons present in a body which carries a charge of -3C.

5. State Coulomb's law in electrosta cs? Write the coulomb force for two point-charges in vector form.
Ans: It states that the force of interac on between two sta onary point charges is directly propor onal to the
product of magnitude of the charges and inversely propor onal to the square of the distance between the
charges.
The coulomb force for two point - charges in vector form is

6. Give limita ons of Coulomb's law in electrosta cs.

Ans: (i) The law holds good only for sta onary charges.
(ii) Coulomb’s law cannot be applied if the shape of the charges is arbitrary.

7. Define rela ve permi vity of a medium.

Ans: Rela ve permi vity of a medium is the ra o of permi vity of the medium to the permi vity of free space.
8. How is the force between two point - charges affected with change in medium?
Ans: The force between two-point charges placed in a material medium is reduced by a factor equal to
the dielectric constant of that medium compared to the force in a vacuum.

9. State the Superposi on principle for force on a charge due to a number of mul ple charges.
Ans: It states that when a number of charges are interac ng, the total force on a given charge is the vector
sum of the forces exerted on it due to all other charges.

10. Define an electric field?

Ans: It is the space around a charge body where electric force can be experienced.
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11. Define electric field intensity at a point in an electric field?
Ans: Electric field intensity at a point in an electric field is the force experienced by a unit posi ve charge placed
at that point.
⃗
It is given by 𝐸⃗ =
Its SI unit is NC-1 or Vm-1

12. Two charges -3q and q are placed fixed on the x-axis separated by distance ‘d’. Where should a third charge 2q
be placed such that, it will not experience any force?

13. Two point - charges qA= 3μC and qB =- 3μC bare located 20 cm apart in vacuum.
(a) What is the electric field at the midpoint O of the line AB joining the two charges?
(b) If a nega ve test charge of magnitude 1.5 × 109 C Is placed at this point, what is the force experienced by
the test charge?

14. Define an electric dipole and electric dipole moment.

Ans: Electric dipole is a pair of two equal and opposite charges separated by a certain length. The length of the
dipole is
called dipole length represented by 2a. E.g : H2O, HCI, etc
Electric dipole moment is defined as the product of magnitude of a charge of dipole and dipole length. It is a
vector quan ty directed from -ve to +ve charge and its magnitude is given by
p = 2aq.

15. Derive an expression for the electric field at a point on the equatorial plane of an electric dipole consis ng
of charges q and -q separated by a distance 2a. The distance of a far-off point on the equatorial plane of an
electric dipole is halved. How will the electric field be affected for the dipole?

16. Derive an expression for the electric field at a point on the axial line of an electric dipole consis ng
of charges q and -q separated by a distance 2a.

17. Draw the electric field lines for an (i) electric dipole (ii) Pair of equal & like charges
18. Draw the pa ern of electric field lines, when a point charge -Q ls kept near an uncharged conduc ng
plate.

19. Write any two proper es of electric field lines.

Ans: (i) Electrons field lines are con nuous curves. They start from a posi vely charged body and end at a
nega vely charged body and end at a nega vely charged body. They are con nuous but do not form closed loops
as there are no lines of force inside the charged body.
(ii) Tangent to the electric field line at any point gives the direc ons of electric field intensity at that point.

20. Explain why two electric field Iines cannot Intersect each other.
Ans: If two electric field lines Intersect each other, then at the point of Intersec on there will be two different
direc ons for electric field Intensity which Is not possible. So, two electric field Iines cannot intersect each
other

21. Define electric flux over a surface. Write Its expression and unit.
Ans: Electric flux over a surface is the number of electric field lines passing through that surface.
For a uniform electric field (𝐸⃗ ) and a planar surface with area vector (𝐴⃗), the electric flux (𝛷 ) is calculated using
the dot product:
𝛷 = 𝐸⃗ ⋅ 𝐴⃗ = 𝐸𝐴cos𝜃
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 Here, 𝐸 is the electric field magnitude, 𝐴 is the surface area, and 𝜃 is the angle between the electric field and the
area vector.

22. State Gauss law in electrosta cs. Also give its statement in integral form. Define Gaussian surface.
Ans: It states that the total electric flux over a close surface is equal to 1/ϵ mes the charge enclosed by the
close surface.

23. A charge Q is at the centre of a spherical Gaussian surface. What is the effect on the electric flux if the
sphere is replaced by a cube having more surface area but the charge is s ll at the centre?
Ans: the electric flux will remains the same because the net charge enclosed is same and the flux is independent
of the shape or size of the Gaussian surface.

24. Obtain the expression for the torque t experienced by an electric dipole of dipole moment p in a uniform
electric field E.

25. Find the electric field Intensity in between two Infinite parallel plane sheets of charges having same surface
charge density ρ with (i) like charges on the plates (ii) unlike charges on the plates.

26. Obtain the expression for the electric field intensity due to a uniformly charged infinite long thin wire.

27. Obtain the expression for the electric field intensity due to a charge spherical shell at a point outside and
inside the shell by using Gauss law.

28. Give a Limita on of Gauss law.

Ans: Gauss's law is most easily applied in situa ons with high symmetry (spherical, cylindrical, or planar
symmetry). In cases where the charge distribu on lacks symmetry, it can be challenging to apply the law
effec vely.

29. What is the electric flux through a cube of side +1 cm which encloses an electric dipole?
Ans: Since, according to the Gauss' law of electrosta cs, electric flux through any closed surface is given by
φE = ∮ 𝐸. 𝑑𝑆 = ---------- (i) where, 𝐸 = electrosta c field,
q = total charge enclosed by the surface,
𝜖 = absolute electric permi vity of free space.
So, in the given case, cube encloses an electric dipole.
Therefore, the total charge enclosed by the cube is zero i.e q = 0
Therefore, from Eq. (i), we get
φE = = 0
i.e., Electric flux is zero. _-

30. A point charge q is at a distance of d/2 directly above the centre of a square of side d,
as shown in the figure. Use Gauss' law to obtain the expression for the electric flux through
`
31. Define electric poten al and electric poten al difference in an electric field.
Ans: It is defined as the amount of work done in bringing a unit +ve charge from infinity up to the given point.
If W Is the work done in bringing a test charge qo from infinity to a given point, then electric poten al at that
point is V=
Its unit Is JC-1 or volt.
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 Electric poten al difference between two points is defined as the amount of work done In bringing a unit +ve
charge from one point to another. If W Is the work done in moving a test charge q0 from a point A to another
point B, then
𝑉 −𝑉 =

32. Obtain the expression for electric poten al at a point near a point charge q. What is the effect on the
poten al due to presence of a dielectric?

33. Define an equipoten al surface. Draw equipoten al surfaces due to an isolated point charge (-q) and
depict the electric field lines. What will be the shape of equipoten al surface in a uniform electric field.
Ans: These are the surfaces having same poten al at every point on its surface.

34. Write any two proper es of an equipoten al surface.

Ans: (i) Equipoten al surfaces do not intersect each other.
(ii) Equipoten al surfaces are closely spaced in the region of strong electric field and widely spaced in the region
of weak electric field.
(iii) For any charge configura on, equipoten al surface through a point is normal to the electric field at that point
(and directed from one equipoten al surface at higher poten al to the other equipoten al surface at lower
poten al).
(iv) No work is required to move a test charge on an equipoten al surface.

35. Why are electric field lines perpendicular at a point on an equipoten al surface of a conductor?
Ans: Electric field is always normal to the equipoten al surface at every point. If the field were not normal to the
equipoten al surface, it would have a non-zero component along the surface. So, to move a test charge against
this component, a work would have to be done which is not valid.

36. Equipoten al surfaces cannot intersect each other. Why?

Ans: Two equipoten al surfaces cannot intersect each other because two different equipoten al surfaces have
different electric poten als, so if they intersect then the point of intersec on will have two different poten als at
the same point which is not possible.

37. Show that no work is done in moving a charge over an equipoten al surface.

38. What is poten al energy for a system of charges? Obtain the poten al energy for a system of two point
charges?
Ans: Poten al energy for a system of charges is the total amount of work done by an external agent in assembling
that system of charges by bringing them from infinity to their current posi ons.

39. State the significance of nega ve value of electrosta c poten al energy of a system of charges. Three Charges
10C are placed at the corners of an equilateral triangle ABC of side 2.0 m as shown in figure. Calculate the electric
poten al energy of the systems of three charges.
Ans: The significance of nega ve value of electrosta c poten al energy of a system of charges is that the
par cles cons tu ng the system are bound to each other.
2nd part: deriva on

40. Obtain the expression for the poten al energy stored when an electric dipole in rotated in a uniform
electric field.
An electric dipole of dipole moment of 6 X 107 Cm is kept in a uniform electric field of 104 N/C such
that the dipole moment and the electric field direc on electric field are parallel. Calculate the poten al energy

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 of the dipole.

41. Electrical proper es of conductor.

1) Net electric field in the interior of conductor is 0.
2) Charges cannot reside inside a conductor.
3) Charges reside on the outer surface of the conductor.
4) Electric poten al in constant throughout the whole volume of the conductor.
5) Electric field lines are perpendicular to the surface of charge conductor.

42. What are dielectrics and what are its types?

Ans: These are the substances which do not conduct current but induced charges appears on its surface in the
presence of electric field
Polar dielectrics: - These are made from polar molecules. E.g. water.
Non-polar dielectrics: - These are made from non-polar molecules. E.g.: CO2

43. Explain the phenomenon dielectric polariza on.

Ans: When a non-polar dielectric is placed in an external electric field the centres of posi ves charges are pulled
along the direc on of electric field while the centres of nega ve charges are pulled opp. to the direc on of electric
field. Thus, the posi ve and nega ve charges centres get separated and is said to be polarized.

44. Why the electric field inside a dielectric is less that the outside electric field when it Is placed in an external
electric field? Define dielectric constant of a medium.
Ans: When a non-polar dielectric is placed in an external electric field, the molecule of the dielectric gets polarized.
Due to polariza on an electric field is set up inside the dielectric which opposes external electric field. So, the
electric inside the dielectric is less than the outside electric field.
Dielectric constant of a medium is defined as the ra o of external electric field to the reduced value of electric
field Inside the dielectric i.e.,
𝐾= where Eo = external electric field. E = electric field inside the dielectric.

45. What is a capacitor. Define capacitance of a capacitor.

Ans: A capacitor is a device used to store an electric charge, consis ng of one or more pairs of conductors separated
by an insulator.
The capacity of a capacitor to store charge is called capacitance. Its unit is farad (F).

46. Obtain an expression for capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor

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