Understanding Electric Charge,

Electric Force, and Electric Field

 • Static electricity is a form of
electricity resulting from the
Static imbalance between positive and
negative charges within a
Electricity material that occurs when
electrons (the negatively charged
particles in an atom) move from
one material to another.
Static Electricity
• If the electron-receiving material is
either isolated or not an electrical
conductor, it tends to hold on to the
electrons, resulting in a buildup of
electric charge.
• Since this charge is not moving, it is
referred to as static electricity.
• When conditions allow the built-up
charge to flow, the surplus of static
electricity is discharged, and it
becomes current electricity.
 • Electric Charge is the property of
subatomic particles that causes it to
experience a force when placed in an

What Is electric and magnetic field.”

• Electric charges are of two types: Positive

Electric and Negative, commonly carried by charge

carriers protons and electrons. Examples
of the types of charges are subatomic
Charge? particles or the particles of matter:
• Protons are positively charged
• Electrons are negatively charged
• Neutrons have zero charge
Types of Electric Charge
• Two kinds of electric charges:
• positive(+) charge
• negative(-) charge
• Negative Charge
When an object has a negative charge, it means that it has more electrons than
protons.
• Positive Charge
When an object has a positive charge, it means that it has more protons than
electrons.
• When there is an identical number of positive and negative charges, the negative
and positive charges would cancel out each other and the object would become
neutral.
 Coulomb is the unit of
electric charge.
SI Unit of The SI unit of electric charge is
the coulomb which is a derived SI
Electric unit and is represented by the
symbol C. A coulomb is defined as
Charge the amount of charge that passes
through an electrical conductor
carrying one ampere per second.
 Electric Charge
Electric charge is a property of tiny
particles in atoms.
The unit of electric charge is the
coulomb (C).
A quantity of charge should always be
identified with a positive or a negative
sign.
 Conservation of
Electric Charge
• Conservation of charge is the
principle that the total electric charge
in an isolated system never changes.
The net quantity of electric charge,
the amount of positive charge minus
the amount of negative charge in the
universe, is always conserved.
 Conservation of Electric Charge
The law of conservation of charge says that the net charge of an isolated system will
always remain constant. Let’s try to understand it in more depth. There is a possibility of
two ideal states for a system for multiple objects.
• The first one is that all the object has a net neutral charge. So, in the whole system,
there is the same number of protons and electrons. So, for each proton, there is an
electron to balance it.
• Another ideal state would be the net charge of the system being distributed uniformly
in the objects. So rather than concentrating negative charge in a few bodies, the charge
on the body is evenly distributed throughout by the transfer of the electron, and this
can be achieved by the transfer of electrons from higher to lower polarity. Only
electrons can be involved in the transfer charges, not protons.
Conservation of
Electric Charge
•From the given image, we can say
that if our system is not in the
influence of any other charges, the
net internal distribution among
charge will go on in such a way that
the entire net charge of the system
will remain the same.

•In other words, we can say that:

Charge can neither be
created nor be destroyed and there
is total conservation of charge.
Methods of Charging
• The process of supplying the electric charge to an object or
losing the electric charge from an object is called charging.
• An uncharged object can be charged in three different ways as
follows:
•Charging by friction ( triboelectric charging)
•Charging by conduction
•Charging by induction
 Methods of Charging

Charging by Friction
• When two objects are rubbed against each
other, charge transfer takes place. One of the
objects loses electrons while the other object
gains electrons. The object that loses electrons
becomes positively charged, and the object
that gains electrons becomes negatively
charged. Both the objects get charged due to
friction, and this method of charging is
commonly known as electrification by friction.
 Methods of Charging
Charging by Conduction
The method of charging an uncharged object
by bringing it close to a charged object is
known as charging by conduction. The charged
conductor has an unequal number of protons
and electrons; hence when an uncharged
conductor is brought near it, it discharges
electrons to stabilize itself.
 Methods of Charging
Charging by Induction
The process of charging an uncharged
conductor by bringing it near a
charged conductor without any
physical contact is known as charging
by induction.
Electric Force
Electric Force
• The repulsive or attractive interaction between any two
charged bodies is called as electric force.
• There is an electric force in a system when charged objects
interact with other objects.
• Positive charges attract negative charges, so the electric force
between them is attractive.
• The electric force is repulsive for two positive charges, or
two negative charges.
Electric Force
• A common example of this is how two balloons interact after rubbing both of them
against a blanket.
• Electrons from the blanket transfer to the balloons when you rub the balloons
against it, leaving the blanket positively charged and the balloons negatively
charged. When you put the balloons next to each other, they repel and move away
from each other, since they both have a total negative charge. If you instead put the
balloons on the wall, which has a neutral charge, they will stick to it because the
negative charges in the balloon attract the positive charges in the wall. This is an
example of static electricity.
 Electric Force

The electric force from charges of the same sign is repulsive and from different signs is attractive.
What is the
The electrical force,
unit of like other forces, is
electrical generally measured
force? in Newton units.
 • Electrical forces may be
What are divided into two
categories: attractive
the types of electrical forces and
repulsive electrical forces.
electric Similar charges repel one
another, whereas opposite
force? charges attract one another.
What do electrical
forces depend on?
• Electric force strength is determined by the
electric charge on the particles, as well as their
separation from one another. The force
increases with larger charges or closer
distances.
• The electric force between two electrons is
equal to the electric force between two protons
when placed at equal distances. This describes
that the electric force is not based on the mass
of the object but depends on the quantity
known as the electric charge.
 What Is Coulomb’s
Law?
• Coulomb’s law is an experimental law that
quantifies the amount of force between two
stationary electrically charged particles. The
electric force between a stationary charged
body is conventionally known as the
electrostatic force or Coulomb’s force.
Coulomb’s law describes the amount of
electrostatic force between stationary
charges.
 What Is Coulomb’s
Law?
• Coulomb’s law states that:
“The value of the electrostatic force
of interaction between two-point
charges is directly proportional to
the scalar multiplication of the
charges and inversely proportional
to the square of the distance among
them.”
What Is the Formula of Electric Electric force formula can be
obtained from Coulomb’s law
Force? as follows:
Although there are two kinds of charged particles in an atom,
electrons are the charges that usually move around.

+ -

Protons are roughly 2000 times more massive than

electrons and are typically bound inside nuclei.

Charges are quantized (come in units of e= 1.6x10-19 C).

The charge of an electron is –e = –1.6x10-19 coulombs.

The charge of a proton is +e = +1.6x10-19 coulombs.

That’s all the lecture time I’ll devote to sections 21.1 and 21.2.
 Why is electric force
stronger than
gravitational?
• This is because gravity is mass-
dependent, and because atoms
have such little masses, the
gravitational forces between them
are near zero. However, the
electrostatic force is associated
with charges.
Gravity vs. Electromagnetic Force
• Gravity Force Electromagnetic
• Attracts attracts and repels
• inverse square law inverse square law
• surround objects surround objects
• cannot be shielded can be shielded
• incredibly weaker enormously stronger