University of British Columbia | Okanagan Campus | School of Engineering

APSC 178 Electricity, Magnetism, and Waves

Assignment 1

1. Answer the following questions:

a) If charge is quantized, why don’t you notice the effects of this quantization in everyday life?

b) Two equal point charges exert equal forces on each other. But if one charge is twice the other, do
they still exert equal forces on each other or does one exert twice the force of the other?

c) Why does your clothing tend to cling together after going through the dryer? Would you expect
more or less clinging if all your clothing were made of the same material (say, cotton) than if you
dried different kinds of clothing together? Why?

d) When two point charges of equal mass and charge are released on a frictionless table, each has an
initial acceleration 𝑎0 . If instead you keep one fixed and release the other one, what will be its
initial acceleration: 2𝑎0 , 𝑎0 , or 𝑎0 /2? Explain.

2. Consider the figure below as a demonstration of induction. On the left is a conducting structure
composed of two thin leaves of hanging aluminum foil that are electrically connected to an electrode.
There is a negatively charged balloon on the right. The balloon is brought towards the electrode, which
causes the negative and positive charges to separate within the conducting structure. This process
negatively charges the aluminum leaves and they repel each other (i.e., they deflect away from each
other as shown in the figure).

If we ground the aluminum leaves by touching them with a finger, their negative charges are removed
and they no longer repel each other (i.e., they simply lie flat against each other). If we then remove the
balloon, the conducting structure becomes positively charged and the aluminum leaves repel each
other again.

1
 It is interesting to note that the above demonstration would happen even if grounding is applied to the
electrode, rather than the aluminum leaves, as denoted by the applied finger in the figure. Explain why
this would be the case using the figure below in a series of diagrams. Show the flow of electrons in
these diagrams. Hint: although the electrode has a net positive charge, there are many electrons that
still remain within it.

3. Charge 𝑞1 = 1 nC is placed at position (0, 𝑦) on the y-axis and another charge 𝑞2 = 1 nC is placed at
position (0, −𝑦) also on the 𝑦-axis. Finally, a third charge 𝑄 = −1 nC is placed at a position (𝑐, 0) on
the 𝑥-axis, where 𝑐 is a constant.

a) What is the direction of the net electric force on 𝑄?

b) Find an expression for the net force on 𝑄 due to 𝑞1 and 𝑞2 . For what value of 𝑦 does the magnitude
of this net force equal to the magnitude of the force on 𝑄 due to 𝑞1 alone?

c) What is the direction of the net electric force on 𝑄 if the sign of 𝑞2 were reversed?
(i.e. 𝑞2 = −1 nC)

4. A quarter-inch steel cable can be used to lift a mass of up to 2500 kg without breaking. The cable is
used to connect two identical large steel spheres together into a single conducting unit.

a) Draw the distribution of charges over the entire steel structure after a +1 C charge is added to one
of the spheres. Assume the spheres are far enough apart that the charges on each sphere are
uniformly distributed, and assume that there is negligible charge on the steel cable.

b) What is the minimum length of steel cable that would have to be used when designing this
structure to hold this much charge? You may calculate the total force between the spheres by
treating the charges on each sphere as if they were concentrated at their centers.

c) Redaw the distribution of charges for the case where one of the spheres is much larger than the
other. Hint: positive charges like to be as far apart from each other as possible.

d) Given the length calculated in part b), would the mismatched spheres be able to hold more charge
or less charge than the configuration with the identical spheres? Justify your answer.