Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance

Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance 2013
SSSS Family & CO.
Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance

Electric Potential and capacitance
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1. The physical quantities which are always conserved are called as conservative quantities. 2. The Coulomb force between two charges is conservative forces. Let there be a charge Q with an electric field E. A test charge q is brought from a point R to P in the electric field of the charge Q. An external force Fext has to be applied against the electric force exerted by the charge Q on the test charge. This external force is stored as electrostatic potential energy in the test charge at the position P. The work done W on the test charge is: W = F * s (F is Force and s is displacement) W=
Fext dr = -
Fe dr
The work done gets stored as potential energy. The work done can also be defined as the difference in the potential energies at R and P. Wrp = Up - Ur The electrostatic potential energy of q at a point (in the presence of a field due to an charge configuration) is the amount of work done by the external force (equal and opposite to electric force) to bring a charge from to that point WA = UA - U = UA ( potential energy at infinity is 0 ) (i) (ii) Potential energy depends only on the initial and final positions and not on the path taken. Hence it is called as a conservative quantity. The actual potential energy at different positions do not have any physical significance. Only the difference between them is important.
Electrostatic Potential (V) The work done is proportional to the force at that point due to a charge configuration q. WF W qE W/qE The work done per unit test charge is characteristic of the electric field associated with charge configuration. This quantity is called as electrostatic potential.

Electrostatic potential is the amount of work done by an external force to bring a unit positive charge from to a point. V = W/q = U/q The SI unit of electrostatic potential is volt (V). (1V= 1JC-1) It is a scalar quantity. (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Electrostatic potential is conservative and depends only on the initial and final positions. The actual value of the potential is not significantly important but its difference is important. The work done per unit test charge is the ratio of infinitesimal work done and infinitesimal magnitude of the test charge W / q The external force applied is equal and opposite to the electric force on the test charge at each point in the path.
Potential due to a point charge (Refer NB)
V=
(i) (ii) (iii) The electrostatic potential is inversely proportional to the distance between them The electric field intensity is inversely proportional to the square of distance between them. The electric field intensity around a dipole is inversely proportional to the cube of distance between them.
Potential due to a dipole (Refer NB)
V=
The above equation is true only for distances larger than the size of the dipole. If the angle between the dipole and the position vector is 0, V=0

If the angle between the dipole and the position vector is 90, V is maximum. The potential due to a point charge depends on r. However, potential due to a dipole depends on r as well as the dipole moment p. It is axially symmetric. (ii) The potential due to a dipole is inversely proportional to the square of distance between them. Potential due to a system of charges (Refer NB) V= (i)
Consider a uniformly charged sphere with radius R, the potential energy at an arbitrary point outside the shell is as if the entire charge of the sphere is concentrated at the center. Hence, the potential is:
V=
,rR
The potential on the surface is
V=
The potential inside the shell is 0 i.e the no external force is needed to move a test charge inside the sphere
Equipotential Surfaces Equipotential surfaces is a surface with a constant value of potential at all points on the surface. Since there is no potential difference between two points, no work is done to move charges from one point to another.
V=
Hence, if r is constant the potential difference will remain the same. The equipotential surface around a point charge is concentric spherical surfaces centered at the charge. For any charge configuration, equipotential surface through a point is normal to the electric field at that point. If the field were not normal to the surface, it would have a non-zero component along the

surface. To move a unit test charge, work has to be done to against the component of the field which contradicts the definition of equipotential surfaces. Equipotential Surfaces Field Constants
For parallel conducting plates like those in acapacitor, the electric field lines are perpendicular to the plates and the equipotential lines are parallel to the plates.
Equipotential lines: point charge

The electric potential of a point charge is given by
so that the radius r determines the potential. The equipotential lines are therefore circles and a sphere centered on the charge is an equipotential surface. The dashed lines illustrate the scaling of voltage at equal increments - the equipotential lines get further apart with increasing r.
Equipotentia l lines: dipole

The electric potential of adipole show mirror symmetry about the center point of the dipole. They are everywhere perpendicular to the electric field lines.
Relation between field an potential
(Refer NB) The conclusions drawn from the formula: (i) (ii) The electric field is in the direction in which the potential difference decrease is steepest. The magnitude of electric field is given by the change in potential per unit displacement normal to the equipotential surface.
Potential energy of a system of charges 1. For a system of two charges:
W=
This equation is applicable even when: (i) q1q2 > 0 , the charges are like charges, hence work has to be done to bring them together from infinity to a finite distance between them by overcoming the repulsive force. (ii) q1q2 < 0, the charges are unlike charges, hence work has to be done against the attractive force to move them apart to infinity. 2. For a system of three charges
W=

These equations are independent of the manner in which it is achieved but characterized by the present state of configuration. Potential energy in an external electric field 1. Of a single charge Consider a charge q which is in an external electric field E at r produced by a charge configuration. The test charge taken does not have any effect on the charge configuration because it is very small or the charge are held in their position by unspecified positions Let the potential difference at r be V(r).
Thus, if q= 1.6 x 10-19 C and V = 1 volt
The unit of energy is defined as electron volt (1 eV) 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J The units based on eV are most commonly used in atomic, nuclear and particle physics. 1 keV = 103 eV = 1.6 x 10-16 J 1 MeV = 106 eV = 1.6 x 10-13 J 1 GeV = 109 eV = 1.6 x 10-10 J 1 TeV = 1012 eV = 1.6 x 10-7 J 2. Of a system of two charges Consider a charges q1 and q2 which are in an external electric field E at r1 and r2, respectively produced by a charge configuration. The work done to bring charge q1 from infinity to the point r1 is: The work done to bring charge q2 from infinity to that point r2 has to be against not only the electric field but also the force exerted by the charge q1.
The total work done or the net potential energy of the system is:
3. Of a dipole (Refer NB)
When
, ( )
The work done against the external field to bring a the pair of charges is equal and opposite. Electrostatics of conductors In metallic conductors, (i) The outermost electrons are free to move but cannot escape the metal. (ii) The move and collide with one another and the positive ions present in their fixed positions. (iii) The nuclei of the atom and some electrons are held in fixed positions. (iv) When an external electric field is applied, the free electrons move in opposite direction of the electric field. (v) The charge carriers are the electrons in the case of metallic conductors. In electrolytic conductors, Both positive and negative ions can act as charge carriers. However the movement of these carriers is affected by two factors: - The applied electric field - The chemical forces involved 1. Inside a conductor electrostatic field is zero The electric field inside a conductor is 0 because the electrons align themselves in such a way that their electric field cancel out each other when no current is flowing thought the conductor. 2. At the surface of charged conductor, electrostatic field must be normal to the surface at every point. (i) (ii)

If the electric was not normal to the surface of the conductor, it would have some non zero component along the surface. Free charges on the surface of the conductor will experience force and tend to move disturbing the equilibrium. In static conditions, E should not have any tangential component. 3. The interior of the conductor can have no excess charge in the static situation. In a neutral conductor, the amount of positive and negative charges is the same in every small volume or surface area. The excess charge in a conductor moves to the surface of the conductor in static conditions. Hence the interior of the conductor has no excess charge 4. Electrostatic potential is constant throughout the volume of the conductor and has the same value ( as inside) on its surface. Since, there is no electric field inside the conductor and no tangential component on the surface, the potential difference is also 0. Hence no work has to be done to move a charge within the conductor and on its surface. 5. Electric field at the surface of a charged conductor E = (Refer NB) For > 0, the electric field is normal to the surface and outward For < 0, the electric field is normal to the surface and inward. Electrostatic shielding Even when a conductor with cavity is: (i) (ii) Charged An external field is applied
The electric field inside the conductors cavity remains zero. This is known as electrostatic shielding. It is used to protect sensitive instruments from outside electrical influence Dielectric and Polarization Dielectric substances are non- conducting and have little or no charge carriers in them. When electric field is applied, free movement of charges cannot happen. The external electric field induces dipole in the material by stretching or re-orienting. The collective effect of all the molecular dipole moment is the net charge present on the surface of the substance. The opposing internal field exerted by the dielectric medium only reduces the effect of the external electric field. Non-polar and polar molecules: (i) Non-polar molecules-

- The center of positive and negative charges coincide - There is no permanent dipole moment in the molecule - Ex. H2, CO2 Polar molecules - The centers of positive and negative charges do not coincide - They have permanent dipole moment - Ex. HCl, H2O
(ii)
If an electric field is applied to a dielectric substance with non-polar molecules, dipole moment is induced by the external field. The positive center moves towards the direction of the electric field while the electron cloud moves to the opposite end. This process is known as stretching and the displacement stops when the net dipole moment balances the external electric field. The medium is said to be polarized by the external electric field. A dielectric whose polarization always has a direction that is parallel to the applied electric field, and a magnitude which does not depend on the direction of the electric field is called as linear isotropic dielectrics.
In a dielectric medium with polar molecules, dipole moment is already present. However there is no polarity because the dipoles are oriented randomly due to thermal agitation (net dipole moment is 0). When an external electric field is applied, the dipoles are arranged such that the negative part is in one direction while the positive in the opposite direction. Hence the net dipole moment is in the direction of the electric field
Thus application of an electric field creates polarization either by inducing dipoles (in non polar) or reorienting and aligning them in external electric field (in polar) in both types of molecules.
The factors that determine the polarization is: (i) (ii) The strength of the external field to align the dipoles or induce dipole moment in the molecules The thermal agitation opposing the alignment of the dipoles
The dipole moment per unit volume is called as polarization. Its denoted by P. For linear isotropic dielectrics,
is a constant for a given dielectric constant. It is called as electric susceptibility of the dielectric material. The net charge in a dielectric medium is 0 because the positive and negative centers lie close to each other. Hence they cancel out.
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However on the surface of the medium normal to the electric field has a charge density. The positive ends of the dipole remain at one side while the negative ends of the dipole move to the opposite side. These charges on either side are induced by the electric field A uniformly charged dielectric medium acts as an equivalently charged two surfaces with induced charge densities. Capacitors and Capacitance A capacitor is an instrument with two conductors separated by an insulator and used to store charges. Let Q be the charge of the capacitor (it is actually the charge of one of the conductors; the net charge in the capacitor is 0) and V be the potential difference between the two conductors.
The electric field between the conductors is proportional to the charge of the capacitor. Potential difference is directly proportional to the charge of the capacitor.
The constant C is called as capacitance of the capacitor. C is independent of the charge or the potential difference but depends on: (i) (ii) Geometrical configuration (shape, size, separation) Nature of the insulator
The SI unit of the capacitance is farad. (1 F = 1 CV-1) A capacitor is symbolically represented as and variable capacitor as .
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From the equation for capacitance, we come to know that a capacitor can carry large amount of charge with low potentials and vice versa. High potential will produce high electric field around the conductors. Hence, the medium surrounding the capacitor will ionize and the charges will accelerate towards the oppositely charge poles. This will reduce the polarity of the capacitor. The maximum electric field that a dielectric medium can withstand is called as dielectric strength. Ex. For air = 3 x 106 Vm-1 To increase the amount of charge stored by the capacitor, one can use a dielectric medium with higher dielectric strength. The parallel plate capacitor (Refer NB)
If the conductor used in the capacitor is not infinitely long, the field lines bends outward at the edges. This effect is called as fringing of the field. cannot be uniform throughout the conductor. However, these effects can be ignored if d2 << A From the above equations we can conclude that the capacitance of a capacitor is proportional to the A and to 1/d. Ways to increase the capacitance 1. Increase the area 2. Decrease the distance between the conductors 3. Increase the dielectric constant Combination of capacitors 1. Series (i) The capacitors are connected one after the other. In such a connection, the charges in the capacitors remain the same but the potential gets divided.
2. Parallel (i) The capacitors in parallel connection have same potential difference but divided charge.
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Energy stored in a capacitor (Refer NB)
Van de graaf generator
Consider a large spherical shell with radius R and charge Q. This charge spreads uniformly over the surface of the sphere. Consider another smaller sphere of radius r with charge q kept inside the larger sphere using an insulating stand. The potential due to the charged smaller sphere on the bigger one:
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The potential due to the bigger sphere
The net potential on the larger sphere ( )
The potential due to the larger sphere on the small sphere
The potential due to the small sphere
The net potential on the small sphere ( )
The potential difference between the spheres: ( ( ) ) ( ) ( )
From the above formula we can conclude that: (i) (ii) Irrespective of the charge configuration of the bigger sphere, the smaller sphere has a higher potential than the larger sphere because the the potential difference is positive. Charges will flow from the small sphere to the bigger sphere until the insulating layer between the sphere breaks down when they are connected by a wire.
The Van De Graaff generator:
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Materials used
1. hollow metallic sphere (with positive charges) 2. electrode connected to the sphere, a brush ensures contact between the electrode and the belt 3. upper roller (Plexiglass) 4. side of the belt with positive charges 5. opposite side of the belt with negative charges 6. lower roller (metal) 7. lower electrode (ground), a brush to spray charges on the rolling belt Mechanism: A hollow metallic sphere (of few meters radius) with positive charges is supported at a height using a insulating stand. A long narrow endless belt insulating material (rubber or silk) is wound about two pulleys one at ground level, one at the center of the shell. This belt is kept continuously moving by a motor driving the lower pulley. It continuously carries positive charges which is sprayed on it by a brush at the ground level. At the top it transfers the positive charges to another conducting brush connected to the larger shell. Thus positive charges are continuously transferred to the shell which spreads out uniformly on the outer surface of the larger shell. In this way the voltage differences as much as 6 or 8 million builds up. Principle : Charge flows from higher potential to lower potential.
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Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance 2013

SSSS Family & CO.