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Electrostatics
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Electrostatics | Study of electric charge at rest |
| Proton | Positive charge |
| Electron | Negative charge |
| Negatively Charged | Excess electrons |
| Positively Charged | Too few electrons |
| Neutral | Same number of electrons and protons |
| Coulomb | SI unit of charge |
| Conductors | Materials in which charges are free to move about |
| Insulators | Materials in which charges are not free to move about |
| Semiconductors | Materials in which are good insulators in pure form but their conducting properties can be adjusted over a wide range by introducing very small amounts of impurities |
| Superconductors | Materials that lose all resistance to charge movement at temperatures near absolute zero (0 K or -273 C) |
| Electric Force | A force between objects with charge, depends on size and distance |
| Coulomb's Law | F electric = k (q1q2 / d^2) |
| Charging by friction | When one material has more affinity for electrons than another (neutral) material, it will attract electrons from the other |
| Charging by Contact or Conduction | If a charged object is brought in contact with a neutral object, charges will be repelled from (or attracted to) the charged object |
| Grounding | Providing a path from a charged object to the Earth |
| Polarization | Bringing a charged object near (but not touching) a neutral object |
| Electric Dipole | An object that is electrically neutral overall but permanently polarized (H2O) |
| Charging by Induction | Bringing a Charged Object near (but not touching) a neutral object |
| Electric Field | Surrounding any object with charge, or collection of objects with charge |
| Uniform Field Lines | Parallel, equally spaced field lines |
| Non-uniform Field lines | Stronger where field lines are closer together |
| Positive Field Lines | Field lines that go away from the charge |
| Negative Field Lines | Field lines are directed toward the field charge |