The branch of
electrical engineering which deals with electricity at rest called
electrostatics. All electric phenomena are produced due to the various types of
charges. The moving charges produce current and magnetic effects. The
accelerated charges produce radiation. Apart from moving and accelerated
charges, there exists one more type of charges called stationary charges or
static charges. Static charges are responsible for the generation of the forces
on other charges which called electrostatic forces. Electrostatic means the
study of the static charges and the associated effects.
Such static
charges may be situated at a point when they are called point charges. When the
static charges are distributed along the telephone lines or power lines, they
are called line charges. When distributed over the surfaces such as surfaces of
plates of capacitor, they are called surface charges. Static charges may exist
in te entire volume in the form of a charge cloud then they are called volume
charges. In the next articles we will discuss the behavior of electricity due
to the static charges, the laws governing such behavior and concept of a
capacitor.