Electric Charge (Electric Fields and Electricity - Class 1 - Physics)

What You Will Learn?

• As a physics teacher, I can be quite amazed how some students manage to go through chemical or electrical engineering courses and even pass their exams without really understanding what an electric charge actually is! .
• Yes, it’s a “+” or a “-“. But a “+” or “-“ what?.
• Usually, those students manage by learning the “rules”,but in the end, they do not get a precise feel of what they are doing. Confronted with a new situation or problem, they can end up feeling quite lost.
• This class is aimed at preventing that: here you will learn what a charge really is through 10 videos..
• Episode 1 explains how a charge is actually a property, not a definite body or object..
• Episode 2 presents how a charge is quantified by introducing the concept of elementary charge..
• Episode 3 details the principle of conservation of charge..
• Episode 4 develops the idea that charges attract or repel each other..
• Episode 5 explains that the motion of charges forms a current..
• Episode 6 explains why some materials are electrical conductors, and others electrical insulators..
• Episodes 7 and 8 plays with static electricity by showing you ‘magic’ tricks. Of course, these episodes explain also what is really going on physically..
• Episode 9 is maybe the most important episode as it develops the real definition of an electric charge, using the notion of electric field..
• Episode 10 is a little quiz that will help you check your new understanding of the concept of electric charge..
• If you follow this class till the end, you will have a good understanding of what an electric charge is. This will able you to enroll with confidence in any other science course where electric charges are involved..
• This class is the first of a series that I intend to produce on Electric Fields and Electricity. If all goes according to plan, the following classes will be Coulomb’s forces, Electric Fields, DC Electric Circuits and If I have the time, Magnetism, Electromagnetic Induction and Capacitance. .
• Enjoy!.
• Edouard Reny, PhD, Tutor in Physics..