Electricity Flashcards
What is electricity?
Electricity is an apparent force in nature that exists whenever there is a net electrical charge between any two objects.
What is electric charge?
Electric charge is a physical property of elementary particles of an atom.
What happens to the magnitude of charge?
Even though charge can be both positive and negative, the magnitude of charge is always quantized.
What is the SI unit of charge?
the coulomb (C)
What happens when the number of protons and electrons is equal?
protons = positively charged
electrons = negatively charged
if proton # = electron # then there is NO ELECTRICAL FORCE, as there is NO NET CHARGE.
Whaat happens to electric charge? Is it created? Is it destroyed?
Electrical charge is conserved.
Charge cannot be created or destroyed.
Explain Coulomb’s law. What does it describe?
Coulomb’s law describes the electrostatic force F between two charged particles q1 and q2 separated by distance r.
What is the permittivity constant?
the permittivity constant describes the medium (vacuum, air, water).
What is electric field? What is its unit?
Electric field defines the electric force exerted on a positive unit charge positioned within any given space.
Described by the letter “E”.
What is “Potential Energy”?
Potential energy is the capacity for doing work in relation to the position or configuration.
eg. if a positive charge is fixed at some point in space, any other positive charge, which is brought close to it, will experience a repulsive force and will therefore have potential energy.
Potential energy defines the amount of work required to move a charge q from an infinite distance to its final position within electric field E.
What are the units for “Potential Energy”?
W(p)
What is electric potential?
Electric potential at any point of electrostatic field E is defined as the potential energy Wp per unit charge at the point.
What does the electrostatic potential difference represent?
The work required to move a unit charge from one point to another.
What are equipotential lines?
- lines that havev the same value at all points of the line
- they are always perpendicular to electric field lines
What are the units of potential and potential difference?
Volts (V)
- voltage is measured.
What is electrophoresis?
The term electrophoresis describes the transport of charged macromolecules (proteins or DNA) through electrolyte under an applied voltage.
What is electrophoresis used for?
It is used to characterize various objects ranging from bacteria or viruses to globular proteins or DNA.
Why is electrophoresis of various objects possible?
It is possible due to the objects’ net electric charge.