Summary and Main Ideas
Summary
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There are two kinds of charge: positive and negative.
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Positive charge is carried by protons in the nucleus.
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Negative charge is carried by electrons.
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Objects can be positively charged, negatively charged or neutral.
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Objects that are neutral have equal numbers of positive and negative charge.
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Unlike charges are attracted to each other and like charges are repelled from each other.
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Charge is neither created nor destroyed, it can only be transferred.
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Charge is measured in coulombs (\(\text{C}\)).
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Charge is quantised in units of the charge of an electron \(-\text{1.6} \times \text{10}^{-\text{19}}\) \(\text{C}\), \(Q=n{q}_{e}\)
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Conductors allow charge to move through them easily.
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Insulators do not allow charge to move through them easily.
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Identical, conducting spheres in contact share their charge according to:
\[Q=\frac{{Q}_{1}+{Q}_{2}}{2}\]
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Physical Quantities |
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Quantity |
Unit name |
Unit symbol |
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Charge (Q) |
coulomb |
\(\text{C}\) |
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Charge on the electron (\({q}_{e}\)) |
coulomb |
\(\text{C}\) |
Table: Units used in electrostatics
This lesson is part of:
Electric Charges and Fields