PHYS.6.C

Previous Next
The student is expected to investigate and describe conservation of charge during the processes of induction, conduction, and polarization using different materials such as electroscopes, balloons, rods, fur, silk, and Van de Graaf generators;
1666 TEKS header image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Science concepts. The student knows the nature of forces in the physical world.

This image of a gold leaf electroscope demonstrates conservation of charge through induction.

image of inductively charged electroscope
Image url: File:Electroscope showing induction.png - Wikimedia Commons


The positively charged rod induces a charge in the electroscope rod and leaves. The negative charge within the electroscope is attracted to the positively charged rod, causing the gold leaves to both also be temporarily positively charged. The two gold leaves then repel each other. When the positively charged rod is moved away, the charges within the electroscope redistribute evenly, making the two gold leaves neutral again. Even though charge moves within the system, the overall charge remains the same.

the transfer of energy by direct contact between objects or particles

a push or pull between two objects

the movement of charge within a body caused by close proximity between two objects or particles, at least one which is charged

the separation of charge within a neutral object due to the proximity of a second charged object

Research

Vishneva, A., M. Agostini, S. Appel, G. Bellini, J. Benziger, D. Bick, G. Bonfini, D. Bravo, B. Caccianiga, F. Calaprice, et al. "Test of the Electric Charge Conservation Law with Borexino Detector." Journal of Physics: Conference Series 675, no. 1 (2016): 012025. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/675/1/012025

Summary:  The electric charge conservation law is a fundamental physical principle. There are no hints of violation of this law, neither in theory within the Standard model nor in any experiment. Since electric charge non-conservation (CNC) is admitted in exotic theories such as extradimensional theories, investigating such processes is an evident way to search for physics beyond the Standard model.