Sähkömäärän

Sähkömäärän, also known as electric charge, is a fundamental property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. It is a quantized property, meaning it exists in discrete units. The SI unit of electric charge is the coulomb (C). One coulomb is defined as the amount of charge transported by a constant current of one ampere in one second.

Electric charge can be positive or negative. The elementary charge, denoted by e, is the magnitude of the charge of a single electron or proton. An electron carries a negative elementary charge (-e), while a proton carries a positive elementary charge (+e). The total charge of an object is the sum of the charges of all its constituent particles. In a neutral object, the total positive charge equals the total negative charge.

The interaction between charged objects is governed by Coulomb's Law, which states that the force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of their magnitudes and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Like charges repel each other, while opposite charges attract each other.

Electric charge is conserved, meaning that in any isolated system, the total electric charge remains constant. Charge can be transferred between objects through processes such as conduction, induction, and friction, but the net charge of the system does not change. Understanding electric charge is crucial for comprehending phenomena such as electricity, magnetism, and the structure of atoms.