What is charge - GCSE Physics Additional?

Could someone explain the concept of charge to me?

The origin of the concept of charge is with static electricity.

This is easily demonstrated with a comb and rice/tissue paper.

The Greeks noticed that charged articles repelled each other if they were of the same type. They also noticed that ebony rubbed with fur and silk rubbing amber produced charges that attracted (I think they were the two). Hence they concluded there were two types of charge which they referred to as electrum from their word for amber.

Electroscope experiments (use foil if you want to make one) can demonstrate various charge characteristics.

For your notes. ALL static electric effects are based on moving electrons onto or off a substance.

Reply 2

Bulletzone

Original post by nerak99

Notice how this is the GCSE Forum, not the A-level forum.

Charge is simply the amount of current flowing in a current flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds.

Reply 3

nerak99

Original post by Bulletzone

Notice how this is the GCSE Forum, not the A-level forum.

Charge is simply the amount of current flowing in a current flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds.

With respect, the concept of current includes charge and v.v and consequently your pithy definition is not (IMHO) an explanation of what charge is.

Reply 4

nerak99

Original post by Bulletzone

Notice how this is the GCSE Forum, not the A-level forum.

Charge is simply the amount of current flowing in a current flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds.

If you have got to the age of 16 without studying static electricity before current electricity then the state of physics education is worse than I thought. FYI I got this Q off the unanswered question list.

Reply 5

Bulletzone

Original post by nerak99

With respect, the concept of current includes charge and v.v and consequently your pithy definition is not (IMHO) an explanation of what charge is.

*Activates Posh-English mode*

I'm rather sorry that my inadequate Grammar does not meet your satisfaction and your substantial intelligence, however my "pithy" definition gained me a mark in my mock exam as I came out with an A* overall.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

TheConfusedMedic

for AQA I'm pretty sure this is all we need:
charge is the amount of electricity travelling through the circuit, measured in coulombs (C)
Charge (C) = Current (A) * time (s)

Reply 7

nerak99

Original post by Bulletzone

Well why don't you stick around and make sure that questions don't languish in the unanswered questions box because you apply your A* knowledge to help the OPs.

Take a look at a 1974 O-Level Physics paper sometime.

Reply 8

username1560589

It's a property of some particles that determines how they interact via electromagnetic force.

Reply 9

Bulletzone

Original post by nerak99

I never said I have A* knowledge did I?
All I said was my definition of Charge acquired me a mark in my exam which led to me getting an A* in the Physics Mock.
In that please tell me where you have gotten the impression that I have "A* knowledge"?
I'm no way near TSR Student quality (Probably worse), however I am proud of all my strengths and weaknesses.
I shall do my best to answer questions in the unanswered section.
Perhaps drop a link next time as I ama newbie here and I can not seem to find it.
If you would like to continue this discussion then please send me a PM as we are going off topic from the main topic of the thread.
Good day :smile:

Reply 10

nerak99

Well I found your "explanation of charge" so bizarre I checked and static electricity is in GCSE physics. Here for example. Static electricity was man's only experience of charge beyond lighting until the 18th Century when experiments in current electricity started and

"Charge is simply the amount of current flowing in a current flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds."

Remains a circular explanation. In that this definition presupposes what charge is as well as providing absolutely no elucidation of the 'concept of charge'. Which was, after all, the OP

Reply 11

carrotstar

Original post by Himtiaz

Could someone explain the concept of charge to me?

Above posters have talked about charge and how it flows in terms of electricity, but the way I came to understand it seems far simpler to me:
The smallest particle you can find is the atom. The nucleus of an atom contains positively charged protons, uncharged neutrons, and spinning around the nucleus are negatively charged electrons.
We will assume that the atoms start out neutral. That is, they have the same number of protons as electrons so the positive and negative charges cancel each other out. If atom 1 decides to donate one electron to atom 2, then atom 1 is now less negative because it has lost a negative electron. Atom 1 is positively charged. Atom 2 has gained a bit of negativity from atom 1, which means atom 2 is now negatively charged.

In terms of electricity, the flow of charge is caused by electrons hopping between atoms.

Reply 12

She-Ra

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Himtiaz

Could someone explain the concept of charge to me?

I've moved this to the physics forum :smile:

Reply 13

uberteknik

Original post by Himtiaz

Could someone explain the concept of charge to me?

Charge is a way of quantifying and naming a fundamental property of certain sub-atomic particles. The particles (namely electrons and protons) exert a force over a distance between other particles with the same property.

Electrons and Protons are thus often referred to as 'charge carrying' or 'force carrying' particles.

The charge force is defined as either positive (protons) or negative (electrons) and are of equal magnitude but opposite in the way they cause each other to move (accelerate).

Like charges of either polarity will cause a repulsion. Unlike charges will cause an attraction.

It's quite easy to visualise the effect if one imagines the poles of two bar-magnets being either an electron or proton. Opposite poles attract. Like poles repel.

Charge as measured in Coulombs directly relates to the quantity of charge carrying particles grouped together in one location and which exhibit an imbalance between the number of protons and their associated (or free) electrons.

The collective term for many like-charge carrying particles moving in the same direction when referenced to a fixed position is called an electric current and measured in Coulombs per second or Amperes.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 14

atsruser

Original post by Bulletzone

Notice how this is the GCSE Forum, not the A-level forum.

Charge is simply the amount of current flowing in a current flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds.

I agree with the other poster - this doesn't constitute an explanation of charge at all, for two reasons:

1. It's circular - you've defined charge in terms of current - but how will you define current?

2. It doesn't allow us to understand anything about the behaviour, or nature, of charge. If this isn't clear, consider the following:

I discovered a new physical quantity last week, which I call chorge. Chorge is simply the amount of corrent flowing past a point in a certain amount of seconds.

How well do you feel that you now understand chorge?

Reply 15

atsruser

Original post by nerak99

The state of physics education is almost certainly worse than you thought - both GCSE and A level physics are embarrassingly watered-down shadows of the past, and anyone who's been involved in them for the last 20 years or so should be strung up.

Reply 16

nerak99

Original post by atsruser

I think that of many ridiculous things I have come across is questions where the use of an "ohm meter" is an acceptable answer and probably the worse set of courses in a bad bunch is 21st century physics at GCSE and "advancing physics" at gce.