Electricity and Magnetism

Chapter 1

Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Field

Electric charge is an observed [i.e., phenomenological] property of matter. Two types

1

of charge exist: positive (+) and negative (−). There is no compelling theoretical

explanation for the existence of electric charge.

Electric charge is underlyingly resp onsible for nearly all of the structure and dynamics that

we observe in the world around us. The chemical bonding of elements into molecules, and

elements and molecules into compounds, forming the building blocks of observed matter, is

essentially

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of electric origin. The cohesion of matter into liquid and solid states and the

approximate rigidity ...