Electrostatics and Electricity Flashcards
Electrostatic force
Force exerted by stationary charges
Nanocoulombs (nC)
1x10^-9 C
Principle of conservation of charge
The net charge of an isolated system remains constant during any physical process
Polarisation of charges
Partial or complete seperation of positive and negative electric charge in a system.
Tribo-electric charging
Objects becoming charged through friction
Microcoulombs (μC)
1x10^-6 C
Electrostatics
Study of electric charge at rest
Quantisation of charge
All charges in the universe consist of an integer multiple of the charge of one electron
Picocoulombs (pC)
1x10^-12 C
Millicoulombs (mC)
1x10^-3 C
Current Electricity
Study of electric charge in constant motion in a closed circuit
Current
Rate at which charge passes a given point in a circuit
Potential Difference
Work done per unit charge to move the charge between two points in a circuit
Resistance
Ratio of potential difference across a component to the current through it
Ohm’s law
The current through a resistor is directly proportional to the potential difference across the resistors provided that the temperatures remain constant.
