Electric Charge
3 guided lessons · 27 checks · 2. Electricity → Static Electricity
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Charges, atoms & forces between them
A neutral atom carries equal numbers of electrons and protons, so its charges cancel to zero. Tip that balance by moving electrons and the object charges up — and charged objects exert forces on each other without touching: unlike charges attract, like charges repel, and the force grows as they close in.
What you know already
Charge is a particle property: protons positive, electrons negative, neutrons nothing. Balance them and an atom is neutral; unbalance them by moving electrons only, and objects charge up. This note covers the forces that unbalanced charges exert on each other, how friction produces them, and why every electrostatic phenomenon is an electron story.
Key points of understanding
- Particles carry positive, negative or neutral charge: protons positive, electrons negative, neutrons neutral.
- A neutral atom holds equal numbers of electrons and protons, so the charges cancel.
- An object charges negatively by gaining electrons and positively by losing them.
- Unlike charges attract; like charges repel.
- The force between charges strengthens as they come closer.
- Attraction and repulsion act without contact — non-contact forces.
The number of negative electrons in an atom balances the number of positive protons
Opposite charges attract, like charges repel
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1.Charges, atoms & forces between them
A neutral atom carries equal numbers of electrons and protons, so its charges cancel to zero. Tip that balance by moving electrons and the object charges up — and charged objects exert forces on each other without touching: unlike charges attract, like charges repel, and the force grows as they close in.
The number of negative electrons in an atom balances the number of positive protons
Opposite charges attract, like charges repel
Key points
- Particles carry positive, negative or neutral charge: protons positive, electrons negative, neutrons neutral.
Guided content from the SME authoring corpus — note rn_NhRw6hdrVD4vmNJw, pinned at 502107a3fcac · promoted SyllabAI/syllabai-resources b3caaaa90c5e
