ELECTIC CHARGE OF ITS NATURE

INTRODUCTION

Today, the word electricity is very mush familier to all of us and everybody knows about it use of electrical appliances like motors, fans, heater, radio, television etc. These function on aspects of electricity and magnetism. In this chapter we will study the nature of electrical charges.

Historically study of electricity goes back to 6’th century B.C. Thales, a famous Greek philosopher, was first to notice the attraction caused when different substance were rubbed against each other. He noticed that when the piece of amber, a yellow resinous substance found on the shores of Baltic sea and used for decoration, was rubbed against silk or woolen cloth is attracted light dust particles, lint, light feathers, pieces of leaves etc. This was the modest beginning of science of electricity. However, a concerned interest was shown to this phenomenon only in the 16’th century. DR. Gilbert, a British scientist, reported that the property of attracting light things was acquired due to friction. Bodies having this property were said to be’ electrified’. When the substance is electrified it is said to possess electric charge.

ELECTRIC CHARGE

Just as mass does a property of all matter and causes gravitational attraction, matter is composed of particles possess electric charges that have electric and magnetic interactions.

Electric charge is a physical quantity and it can be measured. However, effect of electrical charges in an object is not observed normally. This is because there are two different kinds of charges, which generally balance each other in any matter. Therefore, matter is electrically neutral and electrical effects and absent. This balance is disturbed when as excess of one or other kinds of charges is created and only then we observe electrical effects.