Electric Charge and Electric Field

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to electric charge and electric fields.

Electric Charge

A property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field.

Coulomb's Law

The law stating that the magnitude of the electric force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Conservation of Charge

The principle that the total electric charge in an isolated system remains constant.

Positive Ion

An atom with one or more electrons removed, resulting in a net positive charge.

Negative Ion

An atom with an excess of electrons, resulting in a net negative charge.

Conductors

Materials that allow the flow of electric charge, such as copper.

Insulators

Materials that resist the flow of electric charge, such as nylon.

Electrostatics

The study of electric charges at rest and the forces between them.

Electric Field

A region around a charged object where other charged objects experience a force.

Electric Field Lines

Imaginary lines used to represent the direction of the electric field; the density of lines indicates the strength of the field.

Dipole

A pair of equal and opposite electric charges separated by a distance.

Polarization

The slight shifting of charge within the molecules of a neutral insulator when exposed to a charged object.

Test Charge

A small charge used to measure the strength and direction of the electric field.

Electric Field Strength

The force experienced by a test charge per unit charge in the field.