1. Module 3

1.49. Module Glossary

Glossary

Module 3—Electrical Phenomena

 
Module Glossary

 

Coulomb’s law: the magnitude of the electrostatic force between two charged objects is directly proportional to the product of the two charges on the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance of separation between their centres

 

electric field: a property of the space around a source charge that enables the source charge to exert forces on test charges in the region

 

electric potential difference: the change in electric potential experienced by a charge moving from one point to another in an electric field

 

It is sometimes called potential difference.

 

field: a region of influence surrounding an object through which a force operates

 

grounding: the process of transferring charge to and from Earth

 

torsion balance: an instrument designed to measure small forces by the twisting of a thin wire

 

voltage: the value, in volts, of the change in electric potential energy stored per unit of charge

 

It is also called electric potential.