# Electrostatics

## Overview of electrostatics and electricity

Electrostatics involves electric charges namely positive and negative charges, the forces between them which is known as electric force, the field that surrounds them, and their behaviour in materials. Coulomb’s law is the simple relation that governs electrostatic interactions and the field around the charges is described using the concept of the electric field. Coulomb’s law is an inverse square law that gives the force between two charges kept at some distance (say $r$ ) apart from each other.

Like Coulomb’s law, the law of gravitation is also an inverse square law but gravitational interactions are only attractive in nature and electrical interactions are attractive as well as repulsive depending on the nature of interacting charges. Charges of the same kind repel each other and charge different kinds, i.e. one charge positive and other negatives, attract each other.

One more thing electric interactions are much stronger than gravitational interactions and gravitational force is almost negligible in comparison to the forces of electric origin. This is always true when we study the interactions of atomic and subatomic particles. But when we study objects very large in size say a person, a planet, or satellites, the net governing force, in this case, is a gravitational force not electric.

Now coming to the properties of electric charges we know that electric charge is quantized and it also obeys the law of conservation means total charge remains conserved.

Now we will discuss why we study electrostatics and where it finds its applications. Electric interactions are of immense importance in chemistry and biology and have many technological applications. Concepts of electricity proved to be of basic importance for studying atomic physics, nuclear physics, and solid-state physics. It also finds importance in studying advanced-level physics.

## The direction of electric field for positive charge and negative charge

Welcome to this tutorial on the direction of the electric field for positive charge and negative charge. Our previous article explained how to calculate the force between two charges using Coulomb’s Law. We know that electric charges are of two types Positive charges and negative charges To find the direction of the electric field of …

## How to calculate force between two charges

In this article, we will learn how to calculate the force between two charges. The force between two charges can be found using Coulomb’s Law in electrostatics. Before going any further, let us learn what is Coulomb’s Law. Coulomb’s Law states that The electrostatic force of interaction between two point charges is directly proportional to …

## How to draw electric field lines?

Let us first understand how we visualize the electric field around an electrically charged particle, then we will cover the properties of electric field lines. And at last, we will guide you on how to draw electric field lines.   Visualizing electric field The electric field is an imaginary physical field that surrounds an electrically charged …

## How to find the magnitude of an electric field?

A field is a means of thinking about and visualizing the force that surrounds any charged object and acts on another charged object at a distance, even if there is no obvious physical contact between these two objects. Electric field $E$ due to set of charges at any point is the force experienced by a …

## How to Calculate Electric Field from Potential?

In this article, we will learn about the Calculation of electric fields from potential. We will also Derive the relation between electric field and electric potential. Electrical potential and the electrical field are complex but very important topics in electrostatics. Sometimes students get confused between these two quantities. Although both electric field and potential are …

## Electrostatics Test (Online Practice Quiz)

Electrostatics Quiz This electrostatics test contains questions where four options are provided. Students have to select the correct answer out of the available four choices. Once you have completed this test you can check the result by clicking the “View Results” button at the end of the quiz. You would then be able to view …

## Which molecule is an example of a common electrical dipole?

Let us try to understand first what a dipole is? More specifically, what an electric dipole is? Then we will sum up the electric dipole concept with few examples. What do we mean by the terms electric dipole and electric dipole moment? The word “dipole” literally means two poles. In electromagnetism, there are two kinds …

## What do electric forces between charges depend on?

Electric forces between two charges depend on1. the distance between the charges2. amount of charge they both have3. medium in which they are kept4. Nature of the charges Elementary particles form the matter surrounding us. The three most common elementary particles are electrons, protons and neutrons. These elementary particles possess distinctive physical properties like mass, …

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