Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when

placed in an electromagnetic field. There are two types of electric charges: positive and
negative

In physics, charge, also known as electric charge, electrical charge, or

electrostatic charge and symbolized q, is a characteristic of a unit
of matter that expresses the extent to which it has more or fewer electrons
than protons. In atoms, the electron carries a negative elementary or unit
charge; the proton carries a positive charge. The two types of charge are
equal and opposite.
In an atom of matter, an electrical charge occurs whenever the number of
protons in the nucleus differs from the number of electrons surrounding that
nucleus. If there are more electrons than protons, the atom has a negative
charge. If there are fewer electrons than protons, the atom has a positive
charge. The amount of charge carried by an atom is always a multiple of
the elementary charge, that is, the charge carried by a single electron or a
single proton. A particle, atom, or object with negative charge is said to have
negative electric polarity; a particle, atom, or object with positive charge is
said to have positive electric polarity.
In an object comprised of many atoms, the net charge is equal to the
arithmetic sum, taking polarity into account, of the charges of all the atoms
taken together. In a massive sample, this can amount to a considerable
quantity of elementary charges. The unit of electrical charge in
the International System of Units is the coulomb (symbolized C), where 1 C is
equal to approximately 6.24 x 1018 elementary charges. It is not unusual for
real-world objects to hold charges of many coulombs.
An electric field, also called an electrical field or an electrostatic field,
surrounds any object that has charge. The electric field strength at any given
distance from an object is directly proportional to the amount of charge on
the object. Near any object having a fixed electric charge, the electric field
strength diminishes in proportion to the square of the distance from the
object (that is, it obeys the inverse square law).
When two objects having electric charge are brought into each other's
vicinity, an electrostatic force is manifested between them. (This force is not
to be confused with electromotive force, also known as voltage.) If the
electric charges are of the same polarity, the electrostatic force is repulsive.
If the electric charges are of opposite polarity, the electrostatic force is
attractive. In free space (a vacuum), if the charges on the two nearby objects
in coulombs are q1 and q2 and the centers of the objects are separated by a

distancer in meters, the net force F between the objects, in newtons, is given
by the following formula:
F = (q1q2) / (4

r2)

where o is the permittivity of free space, a physical constant, and is the

ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, a dimensionless
mathematical constant. A positive net force is repulsive, and a negative net
force is attractive. This relation is known as Coulomb's law.
See an introduction to electrical charge:
S

Lenz's law /lnts/ is a common way of understanding how electromagnetic circuits obey
Newton's third law and the conservation of energy. Lenz's law is named after Heinrich Lenz,
and it says: If an induced current flows, its direction is always such that it will oppose the change
which produced it.
Coulomb's law, or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the
electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. The law was first published in
1785 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development
of the theory of electromagnetism.