PHYS 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 16: Electroscope, Electric Charge, Electric Field

• School: McGill University
• Department: Physics
• Course: PHYS 102
• Professor: Nick Provatas

Document Summary

There are two kinds of electric charge, positive and negative. These designations are to be taken algebraically: that is, any charge is plus or minus so many coulombs (), in si units. Electric charge is conserved: if a certain amount of one type of charge is produced in a process, an equal amount of the opposite type is also produced; thus the net change produced is zero. According to the atomic theory, electricity originates in the atom, which consists of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons. Electric conductors are those materials in which many electrons are relatively free to move, whereas electric insulators are those in which very few electrons are free to move. An object is negatively charged when it has an excess of electrons, and positively charged when it has less than its balanced number of electrons. The net charge on any object is zero or a whole number times + or .