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Electric charge (symbol q, sometimes Q) is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be positive or negative. Like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other. An object with no net charge is referred to as electrically neutral.
where = is the distance of each charge from the test charge, which situated at the point , and () is the electric potential that would be at if the test charge were not present. If only two charges are present, the potential energy is Q 1 Q 2 / ( 4 π ε 0 r ) {\displaystyle Q_{1}Q_{2}/(4\pi \varepsilon _{0}r)} .
No object can have a charge smaller than the elementary charge, and any amount of charge an object may carry is a multiple of the elementary charge. An electron has an equal negative charge, i.e. −1.602 176 634 × 10 −19 coulombs .
There is evidence for a retarding Coulomb force between asperities of different charges, [110] and an increase in the adhesion from contact electrification when geckos walk on water. [111] There is also evidence of connections between jerky (stick–slip) processes during sliding with charge transfer, [44] electrical discharge [112] and x-ray ...
Charge quantization is the principle that the charge of any object is an integer multiple of the elementary charge. Thus, an object's charge can be exactly 0 e, or exactly 1 e, −1 e, 2 e, etc., but not 1 / 2 e, or −3.8 e, etc. (There may be exceptions to this statement, depending on how "object" is defined; see below.)
The charges must have a spherically symmetric distribution (e.g. be point charges, or a charged metal sphere). The charges must not overlap (e.g. they must be distinct point charges). The charges must be stationary with respect to a nonaccelerating frame of reference. The last of these is known as the electrostatic approximation. When movement ...
Electrons have an electric charge of −1.602 176 634 × 10 −19 coulombs, [80] which is used as a standard unit of charge for subatomic particles, and is also called the elementary charge. Within the limits of experimental accuracy, the electron charge is identical to the charge of a proton, but with the opposite sign. [83]
The electric field of such a uniformly moving point charge is hence given by: [25] = () /, where is the charge of the point source, is the position vector from the point source to the point in space, is the ratio of observed speed of the charge particle to the speed of light and is the angle between and the observed velocity of the charged ...