WORK SHEET 1
Electrostatics


  • Define electric charge and give its unit of measurement.
  • State Coulomb's law and give its mathematical equation.
  • A point charge of +2 µC is located at a distance of 3 cm from another point charge of -3 µC. What is the magnitude and direction of the electrostatic force between the charges?
  • Define electric field and give its unit of measurement.
  • A point charge of +5 µC is located at a distance of 2 cm from a test charge of +2 µC. What is the electric field strength at a point 5 cm from the point charge?
  • Define electric potential and give its unit of measurement.
  • A point charge of -4 µC is located at a distance of 6 cm from a point in space. What is the electric potential at that point if the potential at infinity is taken to be zero?
  • Define capacitance and give its unit of measurement.
  • Calculate the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with plates of area 10 cm^2 and a separation distance of 2 mm, if the dielectric constant is 3.
  • A parallel plate capacitor is charged to a potential difference of 500 V. If the plates have an area of 5 cm^2 and are separated by a distance of 0.5 mm, what is the charge on each plate?
  • State Gauss's law and explain its significance in electrostatics.
  • A uniformly charged spherical conductor of radius 5 cm has a charge density of 5 µC/m^3. What is the magnitude of the electric field at a distance of 2 cm from the center of the sphere?
  • Two metal plates of area 20 cm^2 each are separated by a distance of 0.2 mm. If the plates are connected to a 12 V battery, what is the capacitance of the capacitor formed by the plates?
  • Explain how a capacitor works and give an example of its use.
  • What is the significance of the permittivity of free space in electrostatics?