electric charge

• Electric Charge


  An attribute that is as fundamental as mass, electric current, and amount of substance. Measured in Coulombs (C).
• Electric Current


  The flow of electric charge per unit time. Measured in Amperes (A).
• How an object gets electrically charged


  1. Charging by rubbing

  2. Charging by induction

  3. Charging by conduction
• Atoms


  • Smallest constituent unit of matter that showcases the properties of a given chemical element
  • Composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons
• Dalton's atomic postulates


  • Atoms are the smallest particles of matter
  • All atoms of an element are identical
  • Compounds are composed of atoms of two or more elements
  • Atoms retain their identity during chemical reactions
• Electrically neutral


  When there is an equal number of protons and electrons in a matter
• Negatively charged


  When electrons are added to a body
• Positively charged


  When electrons are removed from a body
• The transfer of electrons from one body to another proves the law of conservation of charges
• Electrical properties of materials


  • Conductors
  • Insulators
  • Semiconductors
• Elements with high electronegativity are generally nonmetals and electrical insulators
• Elements with low electronegativity are generally metals and good electrical conductors
• Charging by friction


  One body loses electrons and gets positively charged, the other gains electrons and gets negatively charged
• Charging by conduction


  A charged body shares its charge with an uncharged body when they are in direct contact
• Charging by induction


  The process of temporarily electrifying an initially neutral conduction body by bringing a charged body close to it without making contact
• Triboelectric series


  A list that ranks various materials according to their tendency to gain or lose electrons
• Coulomb's law


  The magnitude of force between two charges decreases as the distance between them increases
• Electric field


  An imaginary field line that explains the interaction between charged particles. A region where electric charges experience a force.
• Electric field lines

  • Never intersect
  • Can never form closed loops
  • Number of electric field lines is directly proportional to the amount of charge
  • uniform and non-uniform electric field
• Strength of electric field

  Force experienced by a test charge divided by the test charge
• Electric flux


  The amount of electric field lines penetrating a given surface
• Electric flux


  • Maximum when field lines are perpendicular to surface
  • Zero when field lines are parallel to surface
• Michael Faraday first introduced the concept of electric field, which he initially called lines of forces