Electric Charge and Electric Field

Electric Charge

1. What is an electric charge? An electric charge is anything that produces an electric field in
the space around it. It can be positive or negative.

2. An electric charge can be: an electron, a proton, a nucleus (an alpha particle i.e. helium nucleus),
an ion, a charged molecule or any charged object such as a charged cloud, a plastic comb, an
electrode or the charged dome of the Van de Graaff generator:
* Like charges repel
* Unlike charges attract

3. When there is a flow of electric charge, there is an electric current this is shown by the Van
de Graaff Generator and Galvanometer experiment (pg. 43 of F5 textbook).

4. Electric charge Q is a derived quantity and its unit of measurement coulomb C is a derived unit:

a. The amount of electric charge Q flowing through a point in a circuit is given by

the product of current, I, and time of flow of the current, t, across the point, that
is:

Q = I x t .(Yr 2005 SPM P1 Q42 at pg. 12);

(Yr 2007 SPM P1 Q38 at pg. 100)