PhysicsCode 5054
Electrical charge
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- State that two kinds of charge exist, positive and negative, and that coulombs are the unit used to measure charge.
- State that like charges repel each other, while unlike charges attract each other
- Describe experiments showing that friction can cause electrostatic charging
- Explain that when solids are charged by friction, the only thing transferred is negative charge (electrons).
- Describe an electric field as a region of space in which electric charges have forces exerted on them
- State that, at any point, an electric field line points in the direction of the force that a positive charge would feel there
- Describe simple patterns of electric field, including which way the field points: (a) near a point charge (b) near a charged conducting sphere (c) in the space between two parallel conducting plates with opposite charges (end effects will not be tested)
- State instances of conductors and insulators of electricity.
- Describe an experiment that allows conductors and insulators to be told apart.
- Recall and apply a simple electron model to account for how conductors differ from insulators.