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electrostatics
All matter is composed of atoms, which in turn are composed of subatomic particles.
  • Many of those particles consist of a property called a "charge", which may be positive or negative.
  • The most familiar charged particles are electrons, which posses a negative charge; and protons, that posses a positive charge.
  • Electric particles with the same charges repel one another; while particles with the opposite charges attract each other.
  • Normally, the electrons and protons in an atom are in balance, and the atom has no net charge.
  • Charles Coulomb, French physicist famous for his discoveries in the field of electricity and magnetism; formulated Coulomb's Law (1736-1806), determined that positive and "negative electric charges" attract one another and that "like charges repel" each other with a force which is proportional to the amount of charge and diminishes with the square of the distance.

    This is called Coulomb's Law in honor of Charles Coulomb, and the electric charge is now measured in units called coulombs.

  • When negative and positive charges are separated, an electrical potential energy is created which is called voltage; which represents the amount of work it would take to move the charge between two points.
  • When separated electric charges can move, they create an electric current and the current is the rate of flow of the electric charge.
This entry is located in the following unit: Electrical and Electronic Topics (page 1)