PHYS 1510 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Electric Field, Superposition Principle, Electric Flux
Document Summary
Electrons are far lighter than protons, therefore electrons are more easily accelerated by. Objects become charged when they gain or lose electrons. Electric charge is always conserved (means that charge is never created, just transferred) If a charge is quantized, it means that charge occurs in discrete chunks that cannot be further subdivided. The si unit of electric charge is known as coulombs. In conductors, electric charge is able to move freely when responding to an electric force. Everything else is classified as an insulator (the charge is localized in a certain area) Semiconductors have electrical properties somewhere between the two. Charging by conduction: charging by conduction is when a conducting object(free-moving) repels electrons on a neutral object, creating a positive charge. When the conducting object is removed, the once neutral object becomes negative. This process is easily identified when the object being charged is left with the same charge as the conducting object.
