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Electricity - Static electricity - Coggle Diagram
Electricity - Static electricity
Electrical charges
All matter consists of atoms. Atoms contain three types of smaller particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Of these three, both the protons and electrons are charged.
Protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged.
Objects that are charged can affect other charged objects using the non-contact forces of static electricity.
Generally, the atom has a neutral charge, but if it loses an electron, it becomes positively charged and if the atom gains an electron, it becomes negatively charged. Charged atoms are called ions.
Charging by friction
When insulating materials rub against each other, they may become electrically charged.
Electrons, which are electrically charged, may be 'rubbed off' one material and on to the other. The material that gains electrons becomes positively charged. The material that loses electrons is left with a positive charge.
Insulators prevent the electrons from moving and the charge remains static. Conductors cannot hold the charge, as the electrons can move through them.
Electrical forces - A charged object will experience non-contact force from another charged object.
The properties of attraction and repulsion are often used to show that an object is charged: a charged rod can pick up small pieces of paper, a charged balloon can stick to the wall by attraction, a charged rod can pull a stream of water towards it.
Opposite charges attract, like charges repel.
Electric fields
An electric field is a region where charges experience a force.
Fields are usually shown as diagrams with arrows: the direction of the arrow shows the way a positive charge will be pushed. The closer together the arrows are, the stronger the field and the greater the force experienced by charges in that field.
Field lines point away from positive charges and towards negative charges.
With a radial field around a positive charge, other positive charges are repelled away. Therefore, the arrows are pointing away from the central positive charge.
However, if a negative charge is placed in that field, it would attract the positive charge and feel a force in the opposite direction to the field lines.
The field between two parallel plates, one positive and the other negative, would be a uniform field.
If the field is strong enough, charges can be forced though insulators such as air and a spark will occur.