(Solved) a question about coulombs and electric charge?

irina

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11 years ago

a question about coulombs and electric charge?

I understand the basis of an atom and the basic law of electromagnetism
moving onto a larger spectrum...

im a little confused about coulombs because it says it measures the electric charge of particles or ions. a particle or ion can only have one quantity and that is positive or negative

im sure i'm not measuring the right thing. Can someone help me with a better definition? or some sort of analogy to see what it is measuring?

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caine015

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11 years ago

every atom has a certain ammount of electrons. if you take away an electron, the ion is positively charged. if you take away another ion, its positive charge doubles.

this is based on nothing and dont take my word for it. ive never heard about this coulombs guy

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bumpntrunk

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11 years ago

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.

A coulomb is is a measure of electric charge. Just like a meter is a measure of length, second is a measure of time, etc.

Two different charges exist though. Positive or negative. So if we say 20 coulombs that can either be +20 coulombs or -20 coulombs.

EDIT: Ok I think I get your question. Usually in physics we talk about coulombs to determine the amount of charge and assign a unit.

In chemistry this isn't really touched on though. Atoms can either gain or lose electrons. An electron has a charge of 1.602*10^-19 coulombs. That amount is called the elementary charge.

In chemistry when an atom loses an electron it becomes positive, when it gains one it becomes negative.

They just say +1, +2 or -1, -2 charge etc. Referring to how many electrons it's missing or has gained.

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fieldhockey32

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11 years ago

This verified answer contains over 180 words.

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a question about coulombs and electric charge?

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