UNIT 11. ELECTROSTATICS

At the end of this unit the student should be able to:

- Define electrostatics and the nature of an electric charge

- State the law of electrostatics and the law of conservation of charge

- State Coulomb’s law and its equation to calculate the electrostatic

  force between two charges

- Define the permittivity of free space

- Define the electric field and derive an for a single point charge

- Describe electric field lines as means to depict the electric field

- Demonstrate proficiency in solving problems involving electric

  charges by applying appropriate vector addition methods

- Define and apply the concepts of electric potential energy, electric

  potential and electric potential difference

- Describe and apply the relationship of the potential difference

  between two points to the uniform electric field existing between

  the points

- Understand that equipotential lines are perpendicular to electric

  field lines

- Demonstrate proficiency in solving problems involving the calculation

  of the total potential at any point in the vicinity of a number of known

  charges

- Demonstrate proficiency in solving problems involving the calculation

  of the work required to move a known charge from one point to

  another

- Apply a relationship between the electric field and the potential

  difference in a parallel plate configuration

- Explain the charging of an object by contact and by induction

- Distinguish between conductors and insulators

- Understand the distribution of charge in a conductor

- Define capacitance and apply the equation to calculate the total

  charge

- Understand and apply the fact that the capacitance depends on

  the geometry of the capacitor: area and separation between the

  plates

- Calculate the equivalent capacitance of capacitors connected in

  series and in parallel

- Determine the energy stored in a parallel plate capacitor