In a Van de Graaff type generator a spherical metal shell is to be a 15 x 10⁶ V electrode. The dielectric strength of the gas surrounding the electrode is 5 x 10⁷ Vm^-1. What is the minimum radius of the spherical shell required? (You will learn from this exercise why one cannot build an electrostatic generator using a very small shell which requires a small charge to acquire a high potential.)

What is the force between two small charged spheres having charges of 2 x 10^-7 C and 3 x 10^-7 C placed 30 cm apart in air?

An infinite line charge produces a field of 9 × 10⁴ N/C at a distance of 2 cm. Calculate the linear charge density.

A polythene piece rubbed with wool is found to have a negative charge of 3 × 10⁻⁷ C.

(a) Estimate the number of electrons transferred (from which to which?)

(b) Is there a transfer of mass from wool to polythene?

A 600 pF capacitor is charged by a 200 V supply. It is then disconnected from the supply and is connected to another uncharged 600 pF capacitor. How much electrostatic energy is lost in the process?

A parallel plate capacitor with air between the plates has a capacitance of 8 pF (1pF = 10^-12 F). What will be the capacitance if the distance between the plates is reduced by half, and the space between them is filled with a substance of dielectric constant 6?

A regular hexagon of side 10 cm has a charge 5 µC at each of its vertices. Calculate the potential at the centre of the hexagon.

A point charge +10 μC is a distance 5 cm directly above the centre of a square of side 10 cm, as shown in Fig. 1.34. What is the magnitude of the electric flux through the square? (Hint: Think of the square as one face of a cube with edge 10 cm.)

A conducting sphere of radius 10 cm has an unknown charge. If the electric field 20 cm from the centre of the sphere is 1.5 × 10³ N/C and points radially inward, what is the net charge on the sphere?

A point charge of 2.0 μC is at the centre of a cubic Gaussian surface 9.0 cm on edge. What is the net electric flux through the surface?

A square coil of side 10 cm consists of 20 turns and carries a current of 12 A. The coil is suspended vertically and the normal to the plane of the coil makes an angle of 30º with the direction of a uniform horizontal magnetic field of magnitude 0.80 T. What is the magnitude of torque experienced by the coil?

Which among the curves shown in Fig. 1.35 cannot possibly represent electrostatic field lines?

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Two large, thin metal plates are parallel and close to each other. On their inner faces, the plates have surface charge densities of opposite signs and of magnitude 17.0 × 10⁻²² C/m². What is E:

(a) in the outer region of the first plate,

(b) in the outer region of the second plate, and

(c) between the plates?

Four point charges q_A = 2 μC, q_B = −5 μC, q_C = 2 μC, and qD = −5 μC are located at the corners of a square ABCD of side 10 cm. What is the force on a charge of 1 μC placed at the centre of the square?

(a) Two insulated charged copper spheres A and B have their centers separated by a distance of 50 cm. What is the mutual force of electrostatic repulsion if the charge on each is 6.5 × 10⁻⁷ C? The radii of A and B are negligible compared to the distance of separation.

(b) What is the force of repulsion if each sphere is charged double the above amount, and the distance between them is halved?

The electrostatic force on a small sphere of charge 0.4 μC due to another small sphere of charge − 0.8 μC in air is 0.2 N.

(a) What is the distance between the two spheres?

(b) What is the force on the second sphere due to the first?

 A spherical conductor of radius 12 cm has a charge of 1.6 x 10^-7C distributed uniformly on its surface. What is the electric field

(a) Inside the sphere

(b) Just outside the sphere

(c) At a point 18 cm from the centre of the sphere?

A magnetic dipole is under the influence of two magnetic fields. The angle between the field directions is 60º, and one of the fields has a magnitude of 1.2 x 10^-2T. If the dipole comes to stable equilibrium at an angle of 15º with this field, what is the magnitude of the other field?

 A circular coil of 20 turns and radius 10 cm is placed in a uniform magnetic field of 0.10 T normal to the plane of the coil. If the current in the coil is 5.0 A, what is the

(a) total torque on the coil,

(b) total force on the coil,

(c) average force on each electron in the coil due to the magnetic field?

(The coil is made of copper wire of cross-sectional area 10^-5 m², and the free electron density in copper is given to be about 10²⁹ m^-3.)

When a forward bias is applied to a p-n junction, it

(a) raises the potential barrier.

(b) reduces the majority carrier current to zero.

(c) lowers the potential barrier.

(d) None of the above.