ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS

 ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS

 

BASIC PROPERTIES OF ELECTRIC CHARGE 

If the sizes of charged bodies are very small as compared to the distances between them, we treat them as point charges. All the charge content of the body is assumed to be concentrated at one point in space

1. Additivity of charges
2. Charge is conserved
3.  Quantisation of charge

1. Additivity of charges

If a system contains n charges `q_1 , q_2 , q_3 , …, q_n` , then the total charge of the system is `q_1 + q_2 + q_3 + … + q_n`  . 

2. Charge is conserved

Within an isolated system consisting of many charged bodies, due to interactions among the bodies, charges may get redistributed but it is found that the total charge of the isolated system is always conserved. Conservation of charge has been established experimentally. 

3. Quantisation of charge

Experimentally it is established that all free charges are integral multiples of a basic unit of charge denoted by e. Thus charge q on a body is always given by q `=` ne, `∀ n ∈ Z`