Physics 9 : Electrostatics

All matter is composed of protons, electrons and neutrons.

Electrostatics deals with the charges and forces resulting from electrons and protons at rest, or static.

In Rutherford’s model of the atom, there is positively charged nucleus where all the mass is highly concentrated surrounded by a vast region of negatively charged electrons known as an electron cloud.



Electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles that move in circular orbits around the nucleus of an atom. Essentially, they are responsible for the electro-chemical processes of combining one or more atoms together. The properties of electricity are heavily reliant on the behavior and properties of electrons.

Electrical Charges

Most objects have no net charge meaning that they do not exhibit the tendency to attract protons nor electrons. Objects can be charged by making contact with other objects. When an object comes in contact with another object that either takes away negative charges thus yielding the object to be more positive than before or when an object adds negative charges to the object it is called a physical change.

An object that carries more electric charges than the number of positive charges that it holds is called a negatively charged object whereas an object that has less positive charges than negative charges is called a positively charged object. The number of charges gained and lossed are dependent on the number of electrons lost and gained with chemical change.

All neutral objects can be charged positively or negatively as the have the same number of protons as electrons.