10.3: Conservation of Electric Charge and the Process of Charging

Describe the behavior of a system using the law of conservation of charge.

The net charge or charge distribution of an object or system can change in response to the presence of, or changes in, the net charge or charge distribution of other objects or systems.

• The net charge of an object or system can change due to friction or contact between objects.

• Induced charge separation occurs when the electrostatic force between two objects alters the distribution of charges within the objects resulting in the polarization of one or both objects.*

• Induced charge separation can occur within neutral objects.

Any change to a system’s charge is due to a transfer of charge between the system and its surroundings.

The charging of a system involves the transfer of electrons to and from the system.

Grounding involves connecting a charged object electrically to a much larger and approximately neutral system (e.g. Earth).