Written by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 examโขWritten by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Definition
Charge refers to an intrinsic property of matter that determines how it interacts with electromagnetic fields. It can be positive or negative, and like charges repel while opposite charges attract each other.
Related terms
Electric Field: An electric field surrounds charged particles or objects and exerts forces on other charged particles within its influence.
Coulomb's Law describes the force between two charged objects based on their magnitudes and distance apart. The force decreases as distance increases and increases with larger magnitudes of charge.
The principle that states that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred from one object to another or redistributed within an object.