• Ions can move through a solution

• Salt – NaCl

• Breaks into Na⁺ and Cl^- ions

• They can move through water and carry electric charge with them

Ions In Solution

Electric Forces

• What keeps the electrons from flying off of the nucleus?

  • The positive nucleus and the negative electrons are attracted to each other

• Electric Forces – the force that all charged objects exert (place) on each other

• Like charges repel (push away)

• Opposite charges attract (pull towards each other)

Types of Electric Forces

• The electric force between two objects becomes stronger as:

  • They get closer

  • The electric charge on them increases

What Makes Electric Forces Stronger?

• Do objects that are charged have to touch each other to exert a force?

• A charged object exerts an electric field around itself

• Just like electric forces, electric fields get stronger as you get closer to the object

Electric Fields

Conductors and Insulators

• Conductor – A material that contains electrons that can move easily through the material

  • Metals – the best conductors

• Insulator – A material that contains electrons that cannot move easily through the material

  • Nonmetals – the best insulators

• Electric Discharge – the rapid movement of excess charge from one place to another

  • Lightning – a natural example

  • So is shocking yourself on a doorknob

  • But how?

Electric Discharge

• Grounding – the process of providing a pathway to drain excess charge

  • Usually with a wire or pipe

• Charge flows through the grounding pathway and not through anything else

  • Used to protect buildings, people

Grounding