electrostatics

Physical

2022

We explain what electrostatics is, the study topics that this branch of physics focuses on and what electrostatic phenomena are.

Static electricity is the object of study of electrostatics.

What is electrostatics?

Electrostatics is a branch of the Physical that studies the effects produced in bodies as a consequence of their electric charges, or what is the same, the behavior of the electric charges in equilibrium. This electric charge is responsible for the electrostatic effects (attraction or repulsion) that are generated between the bodies that possess it.

Electrostatics arose long before it was understood that electricity and the magnetism They are related phenomena and must be studied together.

The ancient Greeks had already noticed the strange phenomena that arose from rubbing a piece of amber with wool or other fabrics, and how they attracted small objects with static electricity.

The formulation of Coulomb's Law in the 17th century and Maxwell's Laws in the 19th century gave final form to this discipline physics and laid the groundwork for its inclusion in the formal study of the electromagnetism.

The object of study of electrostatics is static electricity, defined as the phenomenon produced between two bodies that have accumulated an electrical charge, either by induction or friction.

  • Electrical charge by rubbing. Certain objects can become electrically charged after being rubbed against each other, since this contact strips theelectrons external to one and transfers them to the other. One object is then electronegatively charged, while the other is electropositively charged.
  • Induction electric charge. This static electric charging mechanism does not require contact between materials. If a material is electrically charged with a negative charge and is brought closer to an electrically neutral body, the electrons in the latter will feel repelled by the excess electrons in the first body and will move within the material until they are as far away from the body as possible. loaded.

Electrostatic phenomena

Many everyday phenomena allow us to experience electrostatics, for example:

  • When we comb our hair. If the comb has a certain type of materialplastic insulating, rubbing it repeatedly against our hair will charge electrons and attract our hair, making it stand up or stand on end. You can even use that loaded comb to attract small pieces of paper.
  • Shuffling your feet across the carpet. Cloth stockings should be worn, so that static electricity accumulates in our body and then we can touch someone directly and feel a small electrical discharge between the skins.
  • Rub a glass with a cloth. If the cloth is thick enough, the glass (which is an insulator) will become electrically charged and attract smallparticles that is around.
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