Electric charge

Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interactions. Electrically charged matter is influenced by, and produces, electromagnetic fields. The interaction between charge and field is the source of one of the four fundamental forces, the electromagnetic force.

Overview
Electric charge is a characteristic of subatomic particles, and is quantized. When expressed as a multiple of the so-called elementary charge e, electrons have a charge of &minus;1. Protons have the opposite charge of +1. Quarks have a fractional charge of &minus;1/3 or +2/3. The antiparticle equivalents of these have the opposite charge. There are other charged particles.

Electric charge of a macroscopic object is the sum of the electric charges of its constituent particles. Often, the net electric charge is zero, since naturally the number of electrons in every atom is equal to the number of the protons, so their charges cancel out. Situations in which the net charge is non-zero are often referred to as static electricity. Furthermore, even when the net charge is zero, it can be distributed non-uniformly (e.g., due to an external electric field), and then the material is said to be polarized, and the charge related to the polarization is known as bound charge (while the excess charge brought from outside is called free charge). An ordered motion of charged particles in a particular direction (typically these are the electrons) is known as electric current.

The SI unit of electric charge is the coulomb, which represents approximately 6.24 × 1018 elementary charges (the charge on a single electron or proton). The coulomb is defined as the quantity of charge that has passed through the cross-section of a conductor carrying one ampere within one second. The symbol Q is used to denote a quantity of electric charge.

Electric charge can be directly measured with an electrometer. The discrete nature of electric charge was demonstrated by Robert Millikan in his oil-drop experiment.

Formally, a measure of charge should be a multiple of the elementary charge e (charge is quantized), but since it is an average, macroscopic quantity, many orders of magnitude larger than a single elementary charge, it can effectively take on any real value.

History
As reported by the Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus around 600 BC, charge (or electricity) could be accumulated by rubbing fur on various substances, such as amber. The Greeks noted that the charged amber buttons could attract light objects such as hair. They also noted that if they rubbed the amber for long enough, they could even get a spark to jump. This property derives from the triboelectric effect. The word electricity derives from ηλεκτρον (electron), the Greek word for amber.

C. F. Du Fay proposed in 1733 that electricity came in two varieties which cancelled each other, and expressed this in terms of a two-fluid theory. When glass was rubbed with silk, DuFay said that the glass was charged with vitreous electricity, and when amber was rubbed with fur, the amber was said to be charged with resinous electricity.

By the 18th century, the study of electricity had become popular. One of the foremost experts was Benjamin Franklin, who argued in favor of a one-fluid theory of electricity. Franklin imagined electricity as being a type of invisible fluid present in all matter; for example he believed that it was the glass in a Leyden jar that held the accumulated charge. He posited that rubbing insulating surfaces together caused this fluid to change location, and that a flow of this fluid constitutes an electric current. He also posited that when matter contained too little of the fluid it was "negatively" charged, and when it had an excess it was "positively" charged. Arbitrarily (or for a reason that was not recorded) he identified the term "positive" with vitreous electricity and "negative" with resinous electricity. William Watson arrived at the same explanation at about the same time.

We now know that the Franklin/Watson model was close, but too simple. Matter is actually composed of several kinds of electrically charged particles, the most common being the positively charged proton and the negatively charged electron. Rather than one possible electric current there are many: a flow of electrons, a flow of electron "holes" which act like positive particles, or in electrolytic solutions, a flow of both negative and positive particles called ions moving in opposite directions. To reduce this complexity, electrical workers still use Franklin's convention and they imagine that electric current (known as conventional current) is a flow of exclusively positive particles. The conventional current simplifies electrical concepts and calculations, but it ignores the fact that within some conductors (electrolytes, semiconductors, and plasma), two or more species of electric charges flow in opposite directions. The flow direction for conventional current is also backwards compared to the actual electron drift taking place during electric currents in metals, the typical conductor of electricity, which is a source of confusion for beginners in electronics.

Properties
Aside from the properties described in articles about electromagnetism, charge is a relativistic invariant. This means that any particle that has charge q, no matter how fast it goes, always has charge q. This property has been experimentally verified by showing that the charge of one helium nucleus (two protons and two neutrons bound together in a nucleus and moving around at incredible speeds) is the same as two deuterium nuclei (one proton and one neutron bound together, but moving much more slowly than they would if they were in a helium nucleus).

Conservation of charge
The total electric charge of isolated systems remains constant regardless of changes within the system itself. This law is inherent to all processes known to physics and can be derived in a local form from Maxwell's equation as a continuity equation. More generally, the net change in charge density $$\rho$$ within a volume of integration $$V$$ is equal to the area integral over the current density $$J$$ on the surface of the volume $$S$$, which is in turn equal to the net current $$I$$:


 * $$- \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \int_V \rho dV = \int_S \mathbf{J} \cdot \mathbf{dS} = I$$