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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.
A charged object brought close to an electrically neutral conductive object causes a separation of charge within the neutral object. This is called electrostatic induction. Charges of the same polarity are repelled and move to the side of the object away from the external charge, and charges of the opposite polarity are attracted and move to ...
If the external charge is negative, the polarity of the charged regions will be reversed. Since this process is just a redistribution of the charges that were already in the object, it doesn't change the total charge on the object; it still has no net charge. This induction effect is reversible; if the nearby charge is removed, the attraction ...
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)} .
The triboelectric effect (also known as triboelectricity, triboelectric charging, triboelectrification, or tribocharging) describes electric charge transfer between two objects when they contact or slide against each other. It can occur with different materials, such as the sole of a shoe on a carpet, or between two pieces of the same material.
The charge of the resulting ions is a major factor in the strength of ionic bonding, e.g. a salt C + A − is held together by electrostatic forces roughly four times weaker than C 2+ A 2− according to Coulomb's law, where C and A represent a generic cation and anion respectively. The sizes of the ions and the particular packing of the ...
An example of static cling; styrofoam peanuts clinging to a cat's fur, due to the charge of static electricity that builds up on the fur due to the cat's motions. Static cling is the tendency for light objects to stick (cling) to other objects owing to static electricity. It is common in clothing, but occurs with other items, such as the ...
Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with cat's fur to attract light objects like feathers and pieces of paper. Thales of Miletus made the first recorded description of static electricity around 600 BC, [ 7 ] when he noticed that friction could make a piece of amber attract ...