Advanced Physics Vocabulary: Electrostatics and Electricity (Retest)

This set of flashcards covers essential vocabulary related to electrostatics and electricity, including definitions for key terms and concepts.

Electric charge

A physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter; there are two types: positive and negative.

Conservation of Charge

The principle that the total electric charge of a system is constant.

Electrical insulator

Any material whose internal electric charges do not flow freely and which therefore does not readily conduct an electric current under the influence of an electric field.

Electrical conductor

Any material which contains movable electric charges and therefore can conduct an electric current under the influence of an electric field.

Charging by conduction

Process of charging by touching a neutral object to a charged object.

Electroscope

Device to detect electric charges.

Van de Graff generator

An electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column, creating very high electric potentials.

Grounding

Process of connecting a charged object to Earth to remove the object’s unbalanced charge.

Static electricity

A stationary electric charge built up on an insulating material.

Coulomb’s Law

An experimental law of physics that calculates the amount of force between two electrically charged particles at rest.

Ion

An electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons.

Coulomb

The SI derived unit of electric charge, defined as the charge transported by a constant current of one ampere in one second.

Elementary charge

The magnitude of the charge of an electron, which is $1.60\cdot10^{-19}$ .

Polarization

The orientation or separation of electric charges within a material under the influence of an external electric field.

Electric force

The non-contact force exerted between two electrically charged objects, which can be either attractive or repulsive depending on the nature of the charges.

Electricity

The set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and flow of electric charges.

Triboelectricity

Electricity generated by friction.

Quark

An elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter, which combine to form composite particles called hadrons (protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei).

Electric field

The region of space surrounding electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields that represents the force exerted on other electrically charged objects.

Uniform electric field

An electric field where the magnitude and direction is the same at every point, producing a constant force.

Field lines

Lines representing the direction of the electric field.

Capacitor

An electrical circuit element consisting of two conductors separated by an insulator (dielectric).

Voltage

The difference in electric potential between two points.

Resistance

The ratio of potential difference across a device to the current through it.