GCSE Physics (OCR A)

Topic Summaries

Charge, current, and electric fields

Static charge

  • When certain insulating materials are rubbed together, electrons will transfer from one material to the other.
    • This produces a static charge in both objects.
    • The object which gains electrons becomes negatively charged while the object which loses electrons becomes positively charged. These charges are equal and opposite.

  • Two charged objects will attract each other when they have opposite charges and repel each other when they have like charges.
  • A spark is produced when a current flows from a charged object to an earthed metal object.

  • Thunder clouds are examples of static electricity on a large scale.
    • Clouds gain charge when ice crystals in them rub together.
    • The bottom of the cloud gains a large negative charge.
    • Lightning is a spark between the cloud and the Earth due to a potential difference of millions of volts between them.

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