P3.1 Electrostatics Flashcards
What is charge?
A property of matter/particle (like mass), it can be positive or negative
What is static(still) electricity?
The charge on each object after being transferred
Only insulators can hold static charge (not conductors)
How do you produce static electricity?
When you rub two insulators together you can transfer electrons from one insulator to the other (positive charges don’t move)
Leaving one negative(too much electrons) and the other positive(not enough electrons)
What is current?
The rate of flow of charged particles (the flow of usually electrons)
How do you discharge an object?
You need to remove the charge to make it neutral again by connecting it to something that allows charge to flow(metal) so it can find its way back to earth(ground)
What is a spark?
A flow of charge(current) through the air, they also discharge charged objects
How do you make current flow?
You need a cell, battery or power supply as well as a complete circuit
The current everywhere in a single closed loop is the same
What is conventional current?
You draw the direction of electric current from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.
This is opposite to electron flow (other direction)
Calculating with current formula
Charge flow(C) = current(A) x time(s)
C= coulombs A = amperes/amps (small currents = milliamps, mA) S = seconds
Potential difference
a difference in (electrical) potential produced by the separation of charge that enable charges to do work, the energy (work done) by a charge
Resistance
A measure of how easy it is for a current to flow
Electric fields
There is an electric field around every charged object/particle. If another charged object is put in this field it will attract or repel, even if they aren’t touching
Field lines
Is the field lines are closer together, the field is stronger. The direction of the field lines is the direction of the force on a positive charge
Extra
Sharp things leak charge, round things don’t
