Physics Made Simple : Electrostatics :Conductors & Insulators

Electrostatics

Electrostatics is a branch of physics which deals with static electric charges or charges at rest.

Main characteristics of static electric charges:

The charges in an electrostatic field are similar to masses in a gravitational field.

These charges have forces acting on them and hence possess potential energy.

Like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other.

Conductors

Conductors are bodies that allow the charges to pass through them. eg metals

Insulators

Insulators are bodies that do not allow the charges to pass through them eg glass ,mica,plastic etc

Basic Properties of electric charge :

Quantisation of electric charge :

The fundamental unit of electric charge (e) is the charge carried by the electron and its unit is Coulomb.

e has a magnitude of 1.6 * 10 ^ 19 C

Conservation of Electric charge:

Electric charges can neither be created nor destroyed.

According to this law,the total charge in an isolated system remains constant.

The charges can be transferred from one part of the system to another but the total charge in a system always remain constant.

Additive properties of charge :

The total electric charge of a system is the algebric sum of electric charges in the system