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Electric charge is a conserved property: the net charge of an isolated system, the quantity of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge, cannot change. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms ...
The negative end of the bidirectional leader fills a positive charge region, also called a well, inside the cloud while the positive end fills a negative charge well. Leaders often split, forming branches in a tree-like pattern. [52] In addition, negative and some positive leaders travel in a discontinuous fashion, in a process called "stepping".
The phenomenon of static electricity requires a separation of positive and negative charges. When two materials are in contact, electrons may move from one material to the other, which leaves an excess of positive charge on one material, and an equal negative charge on the other. When the materials are separated, they retain this charge imbalance.
By modern convention, the charge carried by electrons is defined as negative, and that by protons is positive. [33] Before these particles were discovered, Benjamin Franklin had defined a positive charge as being the charge acquired by a glass rod when it is rubbed with a silk cloth. [34]
Positive and negative charge carriers may even be present at the same time, as happens in an electrolyte in an electrochemical cell. A flow of positive charges gives the same electric current, and has the same effect in a circuit, as an equal flow of negative charges in the opposite direction.
The electric field of such a uniformly moving point charge is hence given by: [25] = () /, where is the charge of the point source, is the position vector from the point source to the point in space, is the ratio of observed speed of the charge particle to the speed of light and is the angle between and the observed velocity of the charged ...
An average bolt of lightning carries a negative electric current of 40 kiloamperes (kA) (although some bolts can be up to 120 kA), and transfers a charge of five coulombs and energy of 500 MJ, or enough energy to power a 100-watt lightbulb for just under two months.
Electric potential of separate positive and negative point charges shown as color range from magenta (+), through yellow (0), to cyan (−). Circular contours are equipotential lines. Electric field lines leave the positive charge and enter the negative charge.