MPC Physics

Electrostatics
 Static Electricity
• Stationery electric charges
• Different elements and compounds have
different electrical properties
• Electrons can be removed or added to an atom
by different everyday occurrences
• Protons and neutrons cannot be removed or
added in a similar manner
• Protons and electrons are the charged part of
an atom
 Static Electricity
• Positively charge objects have more protons
than electrons
• Negatively charged objects have more
electrons than protons
• Neutral objects contain similar number of
protons and electrons
 Static Electricity
• Opposite charges attract
• Like charges repel each other
• Charge is conserved
• Conductors allows electric charges/electrons
to flow easily
• Insulator do not allow electric
charges/electrons to flow easily
 Law of Conversation of Charge
• The algebraic sum of all the electric charges in
any closed system is constant
• There are no charges lost in a closed system
 Methods of Charging
Charging by friction
• Determined by electron affinity
• Prior to charging, both objects are electrically
neutral
• Subsequently, when any two materials are rubbed
together, the one that has more electron affinity
pulls electrons from the one with lower affinity
• Different materials have different electron affinities
and can be arranged in a table known as the
electrostatic series
Electrostatic Series
 Methods of Charging
Charging by Induction
• The charged object is never touched to the object being
charged by induction.
• The charged object does not transfer electrons to or receive
electrons from the object being charged.
• The charged object serves to polarize the object being charged.
• The object being charged is touched by a ground; electrons are
transferred between the ground and the object being charged
(either into the object or out of it).
• The object being charged ultimately receives a charge that is
opposite that of the charged object that is used to polarize it.
Charging by Induction
Charging by Induction
 Charging by Conduction
• Involves the contact of a charged object to a
neutral object
• Like charges repel and have an intense desire
to reduce their repulsions by spreading about
as far as possible.
Charging by Conduction
Charging by Conduction
Using an electroscope to detect radiation

• A simple device to detect electrical charge can

be made by placing two strips of metal foil
close together with their flat sides facing each
other, and connecting them at the top to a
common metal bar or plate
• The strips must be suspended from a cork or
rubber stopper that acts as an insulator, so the
strips do not become accidentally grounded
Using an electroscope to detect radiation

• Any device based on this layout is called an

electroscope
 Grounding
• The process of removing the excess charge on an
object by means of the transfer of electrons between
it and another object of substantial size
• When a charged object is grounded, the excess charge
is balanced by the transfer of electrons between the
charged object and a ground
• A ground is simply an object that serves as a
seemingly infinite reservoir of electrons; the ground is
capable of transferring electrons to or receiving
electrons from a charged object in order to neutralize
that object
 Capacitors
• A capacitor is a device for storing charge that is widely
used in TVs, radios and other electronic devices
• It is made up of two parallel plates with a space
between them
• Inside the capacitor, the terminals connect to two
metal plates(conductors) separated by an insulator
substance, known as a dielectric
• Depending on the size and type of dielectric, some
capacitors are better for high frequency uses, while
some are better for high voltage applications
 Capacitor
• A capacitor is like a battery but does its job
differently
• Battery uses chemicals to store electrical
energy and releases slowly while a capacitor
releases its energy much more rapidly
generally in seconds or less
• Adding electrical energy to a capacitor is
called charging; releasing the energy from a
capacitor is known as discharging
 Capacitor
• In circuit diagrams, a capacitor is represented
by two equal parallel lines
 Charging Capacitors
• A capacitor is charged by connecting it to an electric circuit
• When you turn on the circuit electric charge gradually builds
up on the plates
• One plate gains positive charges the other gains negative
charges
• When positive and negative charges coalesce on the capacitor
plates, the capacitor becomes charged
• A capacitor can retain its charge because the positive and
negative charges on each of these plates attract each other
but never reach each other
• If you disconnect the power the capacitor holds onto the
charge
 Charging Capacitors
• If you connect the capacitor to a second circuit
containing something like an electric motor or
a flash bulb, charge will flow from the
capacitor to the motor or lamp until there’s
none left on the plates
• Once it's charged, the capacitor has the same
voltage as the battery used to charge it (1.5
volts on the battery means 1.5 volts on the
capacitor)
 Capacitors
• For a small capacitor, the capacity is small
• Large capacitors can hold quite a bit of charge
• As charge builds up, so does the pd across the
plates
• The amount of electrical energy a capacitor can
store is known as capacitance
• The bigger the capacitance, the more electricity
a capacitor can store
 How a capacitor works
• When current flows into a capacitor the
charges get “stuck” on the plates because they
can’t get past the insulating dielectric
• Electrons are “sucked into” one of the plates
and it becomes overall negatively charged
• The large mass of negative charges on one
plate pushes away like charges on the other
plate making it positively charged
 How a capacitor works
• The positive and negative charges on these
plates attract each other but with the
dielectric sitting between them, will not be
able to come together and will remain “stuck”
on the plates
• The stationery charges on these plates create
an electric field which influence electrical
potential energy and voltage
How a capacitor works
 Capacitance
• Capacitance is measured in Farads, F
• Capacitance tells you how much charge it can
store
• A capacitor's storage potential, or capacitance,
is measured in units called farads
• How much charge a capacitor is currently
storing depends on the potential difference
between its plates
 Capacitance
• The relationship between charge, capacitance
and voltage can be modeled with the equation
• Q=CV
• Capacitance=C, Voltage=V, Charge=Q
• Capacitance is a constant known value. We
can adjust voltage to increase or decrease the
cap’s charge
 Capacitance
• A 1-farad capacitor can store one coulomb
(coulomb) of charge at 1 volt
• A coulomb is 6.25e18 (6.25 * 10^18, or 6.25
billion billion) electrons
• A 1 farad capacitor is actually a very big
capacitor indeed so instead we use
microfarads (mF) where 1 mF = 1 × 10-6 F.
 Capacitance
• Smaller capacitors are measured in nanofarads (nF), 10-9 F,
or picofarads (pF), 1 × 10-12 F
• A working voltage is also given
• If the capacitor exceeds this voltage, the insulating layer
will break down and the component shorts out
• The working voltage can be as low as 16 volts, or as high as
1000 V.
• The voltage rises as we charge up a capacitor, and falls as
the capacitor discharges
• The current falls from a high value as the capacitor charges
up, and rises as it discharges.
 Capacitance
• For a parallel-plate capacitor, capacitance, C is
directly proportional to the area of the plates,
A, and inversely proportional to the distance
between them, d.
• If the area of the plates is doubled, the
capacitance is doubled, and if the distance
between the plates is doubled, the
capacitance is halved
Factors that determine types of capacitors

• Size-More capacitance typically requires a

larger capacitor
• Maximum voltage-Each capacitor is rated for
a maximum voltage that can be dropped
across it
• Leakage current-Capacitors aren’t perfect.
There is tiny loss of current called leakage
current. It causes energy stored in the capacity
to slowly drain away
Factors that determine types of capacitors

• Equivalent Series Resistance-The terminals of a

capacitor are not 100% conductive. They will have a
tiny amount of resistance. The resistance becomes a
problem when a lot current runs through the cap
producing heat and power loss
• Tolerance-Capacitors also can’t be made to have an
exact, precise capacitance. Each cap will be rated for
their nominal capacitance, but, depending on the
type, the exact value might vary anywhere from
±1% to ±20% of the desired value
 Types of Capacitors
• Ceramic Capacitors- Most commonly used
and produced capacitor
• Name comes from the material from which
their dielectric is made
• Ceramic capacitors are usually both physically
and capacitance-wise small.
• Usually not much larger than 10µF
 Types of capacitors
• Aluminum and Tantalum Electrolytic-Can pack a lot of
capacitance into a relatively small volume
• Has a range of 1µF-1mF
• Well suited to high voltage applications because of the relatively
high voltage ratings
• Supercapacitors-These capacitors are designed to have very high
capacitances, in the range of farads
• The main application for supercapacitors is in storing and
releasing energy, like batteries, which are their main competition.
• While supercaps can’t hold as much energy as an equally sized
battery, they can release it much faster, and they usually have a
much longer lifespan
 Types of Capacitors
• While they can store a huge amount of charge,
supercapacitors can’t deal with very high
voltages.
• This 10F supercapacitors is only rated for 2.5V
max. Any more than that will destroy it.
• Super capacitors are commonly placed in
series to achieve a higher voltage rating (while
reducing total capacitance)
 Capacitor combinations
• Capacitors can be arranged in series or parallel
• The rule for adding capacitors in series is;

• The rule for adding capacitors in parallel is;

 Dielectric
• A dielectric increases capacitance
• There is an electric field between the plates of a
capacitor
• This field polarizes the molecules in a dielectric
• The field between the plates goes from right to left
• The polarized molecules make a field that goes from
left to right
• The overall field is reduced, therefore more electrons
can crowd onto the plates, thereby increasing the
charge that can be held
Dieletric
 How a large electric field reduces
Capacitance
• If the potential difference across the capacitor
is too large, then the electric field will be so
strong that the electrons escape from their
atoms and move toward the positive plate
• This dielectric breakdown not only discharges
the capacitor, but also burns a hole in the
dielectric and ruins the capacitor
 Applications
• The difference between a capacitor and a
battery is that a capacitor can completely
discharge in a fraction of a second, but a
battery would take minutes to completely
discharge
• Sometimes, capacitors are used to store
charge for use like in a flash camera
 Applications
• A capacitor can block DC voltage
• If you hook a small capacitor to a battery, then no
current will flow between the poles of the battery
once the capacitor charges
• However, any alternating current (AC) signal flows
through a capacitor unimpeded
• That's because the capacitor will charge and
discharge as the alternating current fluctuates,
making it appear that the alternating current is
flowing