What is an Electric Charge?

​A Property of Matter

All matter is made of particles that are too small to see. Some of these particles have electric charge.

An Electric charge is a property of matter that causes electrical phenomena. Particles with electric charge interact with other particles with electric charge.

You rub a balloon on your hair and then place the balloon on the wall where it sticks. How could you explain this trick?

The explanation for the sticking balloon starts with charged particles.

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​A Magic Trick

Something that has a negative charge has more particles with a negative charge than particles that are positively charged.

​Negative

Something that has a positive charge has more particles with a positive charge than particles that are negatively charged.

​Positive

Two Kinds of Electric Charge

objects may have either equal or unequal numbers of positively charged particles and negatively charged particles.

when you rub a balloon on your hair, negatively charged particles from your hair are transferred to the balloon. Your hair now has more positively charged particles than negatively charged particles, and has an overall positive charge.

​​What is a Positive Charge?

​The balloon, on the other hand, has more negatively charged particles and has an overall negative charge.

​​What is a Negative Charge?

​Objects that have equal numbers of positively charged particles and negatively charged particles are called neutral because they have no overall charge. Most objects you regularly encounter are neutral.

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Can there be No Charge?