electric charge

Also known as electrical charge, charge

physical property that quantifies an object's interaction with electric fields

AI overview

Electric charge is a fundamental physical property that determines how strongly an object interacts with electric fields and other charged objects. It matters because it's the basis for all electrical phenomena, from the behavior of atoms to the functioning of everyday devices like batteries and lightbulbs.

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Wikidata facts

Image: Cargas electricas.png

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Commons category: Electric charge
Stack Exchange tag: physics.stackexchange.com/tags/charge
quantity symbol (string): Q

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Article

Electric charge (symbol q, sometimes Q) is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be positive or negative. Like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other. An object with no net charge is referred to as electrically neutral. Early knowledge of how charged substances interact is now called classical electrodynamics, and is still accurate for problems that do not require consideration of quantum effects.

In an isolated system, the total charge stays the same - the amount of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge does not change over time. Electric charge carriers include subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms. If there are more electrons than protons in a piece of matter, it will have a negative charge, if there are fewer it will have a positive charge, and if there are equal numbers it will be neutral.