NATS 1945 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Static Electricity
6 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
An attraction or repulsion that exists between charged particles: an electric force can create a magnetic force and vice versa. The force is transmitted via a field. Like gravity, electric forces weakens with the square of the distance from the source, but it is far stronger than gravity. Electrons and protons are the carriers of charge: a charged object (or part of an object) has a surplus of either positively charged or negatively-charged atoms/molecules. Charge is measured in coulombs, c (1c is the charge of over a million trillion electrons). The charge of an electron and proton (denoted by e) are opposite in sign, but equal in value. Electricity is the flow of charge (typically from electrons jumping from atom to atom): these electrons are commonly called free electrons. Insulators are materials in which electrons cannot flow. Static electricity arises from an imbalance of stationary charge; dynamic electricity arises from flowing charge.
