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Electric charges can be found not only in science, but also in people’s everyday lives. For example, rubbing dry hair with a ruler causes some hair strands to stand up, and this happens because electric charges are present everywhere in everything. The just-mentioned example involved electric charges that were temporarily charged.
Protons, electrons, and neutrons are fundamental subatomic particles, with protons having a positive electrical charge, electrons having a negative charge, and neutrons having a neutral charge. The charging sign is ‘q’ or ‘Q’. The number of electrons multiplied by the charge of an electron equals the total charge of electrons in an atom. The charge formula can be written as, according to this definition.
Q=ne
Where Q denotes total charge, e represents the charge on a single electron, and n denotes the total number of electrons. The charge of a body can be measured by comparing it to an expected value. According to a study, the charge of electrons is 1.6 x 10-19 C. The S.I. unit, or Standard unit of measurement, is used in the United Kingdom.
Definition of 1C
1 C can be defined as the charge flowing or travelling through a wire in one second if the current flowing through the wire is 1 A.
The electric charge has only two fundamental qualities.
Electric charges that are opposite one other tend to attract each other. Similar electric charges repel one another. They are as follows:
Two protons and two electrons, for example, repel each other. Protons and electrons have a strong attraction to one another. These characteristics are determined by the kind of charge or the force acting on them and coordinating flow direction.
The type of charge they carry is different (note that protons have a charge of 1.6 x 10-19 C, while electrons have a charge of -1.6 x 10-19 C.). Although the proton and electron have the same charge, their natures are opposed.
General Properties of charge
In practice, we use mC(10-3C), 𝜇C(10-6C), nC(10-9C), etc.
C.G.S. unit of charge = Electrostatic unit = esu
1 Coulomb = 3×109esu of charge
Dimensional formula of charge = [M0L0T1A1]
Because the charge is a scalar quantity, it adds up algebraically and signifies electron excess or deficiency.
There are two types of charge: positive charge and negative charge.
Charging a body entails the transfer of charge (electron) from one body to another.
A positively charged body loses electrons, resulting in an electron shortage. Excess electrons are present in a negatively charged body. This also demonstrates that the mass of a negatively charged body is more significant than an equivalent positively charged body.
Unlike point charges attract one another, while like point charges repel each other.
Because charge cannot be generated or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one body to another. Total charge (the sum of positive and negative charges) remains constant in an isolated system.
A charge is quantised: Charge exists in integral multiples of a fundamental unit of electric charge on anybody (e). This unit represents the magnitude of an electron’s charge (1e=1.6×10-19C). Millikan’s oil drop experiment demonstrated charge quantisation or atomicity.
Q=ne, where n is an integer/number of electrons or protons and e is the electron’s charge, giving the charge on a body.
Electric charges are of two types.
Positive Charge:
The charge of positive charges, or protons, is +1.6×10-19 Coulomb. The field lines with a positive charge emerge from within and extend to infinity.
Negative Charge:
The negative charges, or electrons, are -1.6×10-19Coulomb. The field lines with a negative charge come from infinity.
Electric charges cause the hair strands to attract the ruler. Similarly, stroking a balloon on hair pulls hair to the balloon; but, if two balloons are touched simultaneously, the balloons will repel each other, but the hair strands will be attracted.
Electric current is the rate at which electric charges flow.
q/t = I
Electric Charge Additivity
When viewed as point charges, electric charges are scalar. It’s worth noting that while charges can be point charges, they’re still positive and negative charges. If there are n number of charges within, the overall charge will equal the algebraic sum of the individual charges, according to the additive property of electric charges.
Q = q1+ q2+ q3+ q4+ q5+ q6+ q7+ q8+ ….. qn
Charges are conserved
According to the conservation of charges theory, charges are neither created nor destroyed. They can be moved from one body to another, but not formed or destroyed. Charges are always conserved in an isolated system.
Quantisation of charge
A system’s charge is a fixed quantity. The charge is technically a quantised quantity. The integral multiples of the basic unit of charge (i.e. 1.6 x 10-19 C) can be used to indicate a system’s net charge. If the body’s net charge is q, the equation can be stated as:
ne = q
The letter ‘e’ stands for the fundamental charge unit of electrons and protons. n must be an integer number in this formula; it cannot be a fractional or irrational value. As a result, any positive or negative integer can be used as the value of n. For instance, the value of n may be 1, -1, 2, -3, 4, -5, and so on.
The notion of electric charge quantisation is critical for calculating the total amount of electric charge contained in a system using the equation ‘q = ne.’ Consider a system with a total n1 number of electrons and a total n2 number of protons. Based on these facts, we may deduce that the total quantity of charge is n2 e – n1 e.
n2 e – n1 e is the net amount of charge.
OR
(n2 – n1) e
Conclusion
When the matter is placed in an electromagnetic field, it acquires an electric charge, which causes it to experience a force. A positive or negative electric charge can exist (commonly carried by protons and electrons, respectively). Similar charges repel each other, while dissimilar charges attract each other.
