Electric and magnetic fields

Flashcards about Electric and Magnetic Fields, covering electric charge, Coulomb's Law, electric fields, electric potential, potential energy, equipotential surfaces, and magnetic fields.

Electric Charge

The property of matter responsible for the electric force

Coulomb (C)

The charge carried by an electric current of one ampere in one second.

Charges of atomic particles

Electrons have a negative charge, Protons have a positive charge and Neutrons are neutral (no charge)

Law of conservation of charge

The total charge in an isolated system remains constant.

Millikan's Oil Drop Experiment

Determined the value of the fundamental elementary charge.

Charging by Friction

Electrons are transferred through friction.

Electrostatic induction

Separation of charge caused by a nearby charged object without any physical contact.

Charging by Contact

Charge transfer when there is physical contact between two objects.

Bonding line

Connecting a fuel tank to the Earth with a wire.

Coulomb’s law

The electric force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of their separation.

Permittivity

A measure of the resistance offered by a material in creating an electric field within it.

Relativity permittivity

The ratio of the permittivity of a material to the permittivity of free space.

Electric Field

A region of space in which an electric charge experiences a force

Electric field strength

The force per unit charge experienced by a small positive test charge placed at that point.

Direction of electric field between two plates

From the positive plate to the negative plate.

Electric field lines

Field lines are always directed from the positive charge to the negative charge.

Rules for drawing electric field lines

The lines must also touch the surface of the source charge or plates and they must never cross.

Electric potential

The work done per unit charge in taking a small positive test charge from infinity to a defined point.

Electric field related to electric potential

The electric potential always decreases in the same direction as the field lines and vice versa.

Electric potential energy

The work done in bringing all the charges in a system to their positions from infinity.

Potential gradient

The rate of change of electric potential with respect to displacement in the direction of the field.

Equipotential surfaces

Lines of equal electric potential.

Magnetic field

A region of space in which a magnetic pole will experience a force.

Magnetic flux density

The number of magnetic field lines passing through a region of space per unit area.

Magnetic field lines

The direction of the field line shows the direction of the force that a free magnetic north pole would experience at that point.

Right hand grip rule

Is determined by pointing the right-hand thumb in the direction of the current in the wire and curling the fingers onto the palm