ELECTRICAL CHARGES

OBJECTIVES

• Particles have charges

• Charges can attract or repel each other
 ATOMS & CHARGES
• Negative charges: the charges
of electrons
• Can be “rubbed” off a
material
• Positive charges: the charges
of protons
• Charges left behind when
electrons are rubbed off

Label this diagram of an atom


Clouds in storms become charged by friction.
Warm, moist air causes updraft in the clouds,
hail and ice falling causes downdraft. This
causes the electrons to be stripped and
carried downward.
CHARGING BY FRICTION
• Charging a material by
rubbing is called “charging by
friction”
• Material that gains electrons
becomes negatively charged
• Whether a material gains or
loses electrons depends on the
materials!!
 CHARGED MATERIALS
• Uncharged materials: before two materials are rubbed together, they have
equal numbers of positively charged protons and negatively charged
electrons.
• Equal numbers of charged particles cancel each other out, making the material
electrically neutral
• Charged materials: If electrons are rubbed off, protons are left
behind…making the material become electrically charged. The same goes
for the material that gained electrons.
• A material that is electrically charged has unequal numbers of protons and
electrons.
 LAW OF ELECTRIC CHARGE

1. Opposite charges attract each other

2. Like charges repel each other

• This law applies to all individual charges.

 NEUTRAL OBJECTS
• All neutral objects have an equal
amount of positive and negative
charges.
• When a charged object is near a
neutral object, the charges ”stretch”
apart from each other. There is no
transfer or rubbing off of electrons!
 RECAP
• State the law of electric charge
• Describe what may happen in terms of charges when you
rub two different types of materials together