PH 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Net Force, Euclidean Vector, Elementary Charge

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Physics
• Course: PH 106
• Professor: Patrick Toale

Document Summary

Electric charges come in 2 types- positive & negative. Objects that have equal numbers of positive & negative charge are electrically eutral (cid:1) (cid:1) The si unit for charge is the coulomb, c. Electric charge is quantized, that is, it"s always equal to some integer multiple of a fundamental charge, e (cid:1) q = ne n = 0, +/-1, +/-2 . The charge of the electron is e, where e = 1. 60219 x 10-19 c. Hydrogen, which has 1 electron & 1 proton, is neutral; therefore the charge of the proton is +e. All neutral atoms have equal numbers of electrons & protons. Ions are atoms that have lost or gained electrons & therefore have a net charge. Some neutral molecules are polar, meaning that different ends have opposite charges. Materials in which excess charges are free to move about are called (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1) (cid:1) electrical conductors.