An oil drop of 12 excess electrons is held stationary under a constant electric field of 2.55 × 10⁴ N C⁻¹ in Millikan’s oil drop experiment. The density of the oil is 1.26 g cm⁻³. Estimate the radius of the drop. (g = 9.81 m s⁻²; e = 1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C).

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 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 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 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 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?

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 small candle, 2.5 cm in size is placed at 27 cm in front of a concave mirror of radius of curvature 36 cm. At what distance from the mirror should a screen be placed in order to obtain a sharp image? Describe the nature and size of the image. If the candle is moved closer to the mirror, how would the screen have to be moved?

What is the shape of the wavefront in each of the following cases:

(a) Light diverging from a point source.

(b) Light emerging out of a convex lens when a point source is placed at its focus.

(c) The portion of the wavefront of light from a distant star intercepted by the Earth.

What is the Brewster angle for air to glass transition? (Refractive index of glass = 1.5.)

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

A hollow charged conductor has a tiny hole cut into its surface. Show that the σ/2ε₀ n̂ , where n̂ is the unit vector in the outward normal direction and σ is the surface charge density near the hole.

A point charge causes an electric flux of −1.0 × 10³ Nm²/C to pass through a spherical Gaussian surface of 10.0 cm radius centered on the charge.

(a) If the radius of the Gaussian surface were doubled, how much flux would pass through the surface?

(b) What is the value of the point charge?

(a) Alloys of metals usually have (greater/less) resistivity than that of their constituent metals.

(b) Alloys usually have much (lower/higher) temperature coefficients of resistance than pure metals.

(c) The resistivity of the alloy manganin is nearly independent of/increases rapidly with increase of temperature.

(d) The resistivity of a typical insulator (e.g., amber) is greater than that of a metal by a factor of the order of (10²²/10³).

Check that the ratio ke²/G m_em_p is dimensionless. Look up a Table of Physical Constants and determine the value of this ratio. What does the ratio signify?

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?

Consider a uniform electric field E = 3 × 10³ îN/C.

(a) What is the flux of this field through a square of 10 cm on a side whose plane is parallel to the yz plane?

(b) What is the flux through the same square if the normal to its plane makes a 60° angle with the x-axis?