Electric Charge
Last updated on May 14th, 2022 at 01:58 pm
In this post, we will understand the fundamentals of Electric Charge through a set of questions and their answers.
What is the electric charge?
Electric charge is a physical property of matter which causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge is measured in coulombs (C).
What is the positive charge?
The positive charge is the type of charge carried by protons. Originally defined as the charge left on a piece of glass when rubbed with silk. The glass becomes positively charged because the silk pulls electrons off the glass.
What is the negative charge?
The negative charge is the type of charge carried by electrons. Originally defined as the charge left on a piece of amber (or rubber) when rubbed with fur (or wool). The amber becomes negatively charged because the amber pulls the electrons off the fur.
Define Elementary charge
Elementary charge is the magnitude (amount) of charge on one proton or one electron. One elementary charge equals 1.60 x 10-19 C . Because ordinary matter is made of protons and electrons, the amount of charge carried by any object must be a multiple of the elementary charge.
Note, however, that the quarks that protons and neutrons are made of carry fractional charges; up-type quarks carry a charge of +⅔ of an elementary charge, and down-type quarks carry a charge of −⅓ of an elementary charge. A proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark and carries a charge of +1 elementary charge. A neutron is made of one up quark and two down quarks and carries no charge.
Define static electricity?
Static electricity is the stationary electric charge, such as the charge left on silk, glass, fur, or amber in the following examples. A positive charge is left on a piece of glass when rubbed with silk. A negative charge is left on a piece of amber (or rubber) when rubbed with fur (or wool).
What is electric current?
Electric current (sometimes called electricity) is defined as the movement of electrons through a medium (substance) from one location to another. Note, however, that the direction of electric current is defined as the direction a positively charged particle would move. Thus electric current “flows” in the opposite direction from the actual electrons.