2. 2 Everything Science www.everythingscience.co.za Two types of
charge All objects surrounding us (including people!) contain large
amounts of electric charge. There are two types of electric charge:
positive charge and negative charge. Positive charge is carried by
protons in the nucleus. Negative charge is carried by electrons.
Objects can be positively charged, negatively charged or neutral.
Objects that are neutral have equal numbers of positive and
negative charge. Objects can change their charge by contact or by
rubbing: neutral objects can become either positively charged or
negatively charged. 3. 3 Everything Science
www.everythingscience.co.za Forces between charges and charge
conservation Unlike charges are attracted to each other and like
charges are repelled from each other. The principle of conservation
of charge states that the net charge of an isolated system remains
constant during any physical process, e.g. two charged objects
making contacting and separating. When two identical conducting
spheres on insulating stands are allowed to touch they share the
charge evenly between them. We can calculate the resulting charge
using: Q= Q1+Q2 2 4. 4 Everything Science
www.everythingscience.co.za Q=nqe Conductors and insulators
Conductors allow charge to move through them easily. Insulators do
not allow charge to move through them easily. Quantisation of
charge Charge is measured in coulombs (C). Charge is quantised in
units of the charge of an electron: 1,6 1019 C. We can use the
following equation to calculate charge: 5. 5 Everything Science
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for help on this section see: www.everythingscience.co.za
Shortcode: ESAEQ 6. 5 Everything Science
www.everythingscience.co.za For more practice or to ask an expert
for help on this section see: www.everythingscience.co.za
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