Electrostatics and Circuitry Electrostatics is a study of electric charges at rest, including; positive and negative charges, Coulomb's Law, conduction, induction, resistivity, electric potential energy, and polarization. Circuitry, however, focuses more on the technology behind circuits, series, parallels, resistors, capacitors (not on the exam), and batteries.
Charge and Electric Force (Coulomb's Law) Coulomb's law states quantifies the amount of force between two stationary electric particles, the force that is between the two differently charged particles is known as electrostatic force and is the strength of the 'bond'. Each electrically charged particle has a 'charge', either positive or negative and will either resist one another or pull toward each other, depending on the charge of the particles. For example, positive pushes away from another positive charge, while a positive particle will be attracted to a negative particle, and vice versa.
Electric Potential Energy (Batteries) The electric potential energy of an electric particle, comes from the combined Coulomb's forces and will degrade the further along it travels on a circuit. However, when the electric potential energy degrades enough, a battery will normally be present and will charge the particle back up, allowing it to continue its cycle of providing energy for whatever task us humans wish.
Circuits An electric circuit contains many electrical components that may help or hinder the current. There can be resistors (resist the flow of electricity), capacitors (stores energy), batteries (charge an electric current), and switches (turn the flow of electricity on and off). There are also different kinds of circuits such as; series which direct the current through multiple bulbs or sources on the same current. Then, there are parallels which contain separate currents that go to different bulbs, keeping the luminosity the same in both wires.
Ohm's Law This law states that the current through two charged points, is the exact same as the voltage between two points.
Kirchoff's Rules Kirchoff's First Rule: The sum of all currents entering a junction must equal the sum of all currents leaving the junction. Kirchoff's Second Rule: The algebraic sum of changes in potential around any closed circuit path (loop) must be zero.