All bodies in nature have some electrical property to a greater or lesser degree. This particularity of bodies is activated by the intervention of an electrical charge. The discipline that studies this type of phenomenon is electrostatics and its elementary principles allow us to understand how atoms work and how electricity propagates. Electrostatics
All atoms that make up a body have a nucleus with elementary particles, neutrons and protons. The proton always has a positive charge and around the nucleus the atom has other particles, the electrons. The electron always has a negative charge.
the electric charge
Most bodies have a neutral electrical charge, which means that the amount of protons and electrons remains in balance. When an electrically neutral body starts gaining electrons, it translates into a negative charge for that body. On the other hand, when there is a loss of electrons, a new imbalance occurs which finally leads to a positive charge. Anyway, the electric charge measures the amount of excess or defect of electrons in a body. The physical unit with which the electrical charge is quantified is the coulomb. Electrostatics
Understands the fundamental principle of electrostatics
The origin of the coulomb as a unit of measure comes from its creator, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb. In the 18th century, this French scientist took the first steps towards the theorizing of electricity and is considered the father of electrostatics as a scientific discipline. With this measure the behavior of atoms began to be understood.
In the field of physics, Coulomb ‘s law is used to calculate the force acting between two charges at rest. Its statement says that the force exerted between two electrical charges is directly proportional to the product of the value of their charges and, in parallel, it is inversely proportional to the square of the distance separating them. Electrostatics
Two hundred years after the Coulomb law
Today it is almost impossible to imagine a world without electricity. The use of a simple battery, the operation of a television, the use of insulating materials and power plants are the logical consequence of Coulomb’s research in the field of electrostatics.
Coulomb’s law is not only present in the electrical appliances we use every day, but it also has a wide range of applications: in electrostatic sprayers used to disinfect establishments, in plants where food is processed, in medical devices or in decontamination of biological or chemical equipment. Electrostatics
