- #1
Soaring Crane
- 469
- 0
Why do electric charges of opposite sign attract each other but charges of the same sign repel each other?
americanforest said:I was thinking about just the same question today. Atoms need to stay neutral, so that's why they attract opposite charges, but why do they repel positive charges. It doesn't help them gain neutrality, does it?
ranger said:I'm confused by what you are trying to say.
americanforest said:Atoms want a full valence shell. To achieve this they attract positive or negative charge as necessary. This makes sense and gives an explanation of why opposite charges attract. Now I'm trying to think of an explanation of why charges of the same sign repel. It doesn't bring the atom any closer to a full valence shell, so that is not a valid explanation.
The concept behind this phrase is based on the fundamental principles of electrostatics. According to Coulomb's Law, opposite electric charges (positive and negative) exert a force of attraction towards each other, while like charges (positive and positive, or negative and negative) exert a force of repulsion away from each other.
Electric charges interact with each other through the electromagnetic force. This force is caused by the exchange of virtual particles called photons, which create an attractive or repulsive force between charged objects.
Opposite electric charges attract each other because they have different amounts of electric potential energy. When these charges are brought closer together, they experience a decrease in potential energy, leading to an attractive force between them.
No, two objects with the same type of electric charge (both positive or both negative) will always repel each other. This is because they have the same amount of electric potential energy, and bringing them closer together would require an increase in potential energy, resulting in a repulsive force.
Electrons are the subatomic particles that carry negative electric charge. They play a crucial role in the formation of electric charges as they are constantly moving and can be transferred from one object to another, creating a net positive or negative charge.