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| 184_notes:charge [2021/01/24 23:38] – bartonmo | 184_notes:charge [2021/01/24 23:42] (current) – bartonmo |
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| ==== Conservation of Charge ==== | ==== Conservation of Charge ==== |
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| In addition to the [[183_notes:fundamental_principles|3 fundamental principles]] (conservation of momentum, energy, and angular momentum) you learned about in mechanics, there is a fourth fundamental principle, which is important to electromagnetic situations: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_conservation|conservation of charge]]. This principle says that the amount of charge in a system should always be constant (or conserved) as long as there is no transfer of charge to/from the surroundings. (This is another reason why [[184_notes:defining_a_system|defining your system]] is an important choice). | In addition to the [[183_notes:fundamental_principles|3 fundamental principles]] (conservation of momentum, energy, and angular momentum) you learned about in mechanics, there is a fourth fundamental principle, which is important to electromagnetic situations: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_conservation|conservation of charge]]. **This principle says that the amount of charge in a system should always be constant (or conserved) as long as there is no transfer of charge to/from the surroundings.** (This is another reason why [[184_notes:defining_a_system|defining your system]] is an important choice). |
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| In general, we can always account for all the charge in every observation we make and experiment we conduct (either in the system or moving across the system boundary). | In general, we can always account for all the charge in every observation we make and experiment we conduct (either in the system or moving across the system boundary). |