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Electric charge is a conserved property: the net charge of an isolated system, the quantity of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge, cannot change. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms ...
Before these particles were discovered, Benjamin Franklin had defined a positive charge as being the charge acquired by a glass rod when it is rubbed with a silk cloth. [34] A proton by definition carries a charge of exactly 1.602 176 634 × 10 −19 coulombs. This value is also defined as the elementary charge. No object can have a charge ...
In physics, a charged particle is a particle with an electric charge. For example, some elementary particles, like the electron or quarks are charged. [1] Some composite particles like protons are charged particles. An ion, such as a molecule or atom with a surplus or deficit of electrons relative to protons are also charged particles.
For a single point charge, , at the origin, the magnitude of this electric field is = / and points away from that charge if it is positive. The fact that the force (and hence the field) can be calculated by summing over all the contributions due to individual source particles is an example of the superposition principle .
The charge remains until it can move away by an electric current or electrical discharge. The word "static" is used to differentiate it from current electricity, where an electric charge flows through an electrical conductor. [1] A static electric charge can be created whenever two surfaces contact and/or slide against each other and then separate.
The terms anode and cathode are not defined by the voltage polarity of electrodes, but are usually defined by the direction of current through the electrode. An anode usually is the electrode of a device through which conventional current (positive charge) flows into the device from an external circuit, while a cathode usually is the electrode through which conventional current flows out of ...
If the charge detector is touched to the inside surface of the container, it is found to be charged with opposite polarity. For example, if the object C has a positive charge, the outside of the container A will be found to have a positive charge, while the inside of the container has a negative charge.
A flow of positive charges gives the same electric current, and has the same effect in a circuit, as an equal flow of negative charges in the opposite direction. Since current can be the flow of either positive or negative charges, or both, a convention is needed for the direction of current that is independent of the type of charge carriers ...