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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 ...
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
This charge is sometimes called the Noether charge. Thus, for example, the electric charge is the generator of the U(1) symmetry of electromagnetism. The conserved current is the electric current. In the case of local, dynamical symmetries, associated with every charge is a gauge field; when quantized, the gauge field becomes a gauge boson. The ...
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.)
Electric field from positive to negative charges. Gauss's law describes the relationship between an electric field and electric charges: an electric field points away from positive charges and towards negative charges, and the net outflow of the electric field through a closed surface is proportional to the enclosed charge, including bound charge due to polarization of material.
In solid state physics, a charge carrier is a particle or quasiparticle that is free to move, carrying an electric charge, especially the particles that carry electric charges in electrical conductors. [1] Examples are electrons, ions and holes. [2]
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Once this voltage is exceeded, electrical breakdown occurs, and the material ceases being an insulator, passing charge. This is usually accompanied by physical or chemical changes that permanently degrade the material and its insulating properties.