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Two Kinds of Charge

Introduction to Electrostatics

Electrostatics is the study of electric charge which is at rest or static (not moving). In this tutorial, we will look at some of the basic principles of electrostatics as well as the principle of conservation of charge.

Two Kinds of Charge

All objects surrounding us (including people!) contain large amounts of electric charge. There are two types of electric charge: positive charge and negative charge. If the same amounts of negative and positive charge are found in an object, there is no net charge and the object is electrically neutral. If there is more of one type of charge than the other on the object then the object is said to be electrically charged. The picture below shows what the distribution of charges might look like for a neutral, positively charged and negatively charged object.

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Positive charge is carried by the protons in material and negative charge by electrons. The overall charge of an object is usually due to changes in the number of electrons. To make an object:

  • Positively charged: electrons are removed making the object electron deficient.

  • Negatively charged: electrons are added giving the object an excess of electrons.

So in practise what happens is that the number of positive charges (protons) remains the same and the number of electrons changes:

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This lesson is part of:

Electric Charges and Fields

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