electricity: Quick Facts

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Oct. 18, 2026

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A graph with x and y axes shows two points labeled Q1 and Q2 representing electric charges. A dashed line labeled r connects the charges, with arrows indicating the electric force F acting on Q1 and negative F acting on Q2.

A diagram showing the electric force vector F between two charges, with its x and y components represented by dashed arrows. The x component points right and is labeled Fx = 3.6 times 3/5 newtons; the y component points downward and is labeled Fy = -3.6 times 4/5 newtons. The force vector F has a magnitude of 3.6 newtons and points diagonally down and right from the origin.

A coordinate plane diagram shows three point charges: Q1 at (0.04, 0), Q2 at (0, 0.03), and Q3 at (-0.03, 0). Blue arrows at Q1 indicate the electric field vectors E1,2 and E1,3, and their total E1, all pointing away from Q1 at different angles.

A diagram shows a positive charge labeled Q on the left and two dashed paths from point B to point A on the right. Path 1 goes directly from B to A, while path 2 follows a route from B to C to D to A. Both paths illustrate possible ways to move a second charge q in the presence of Q.

A 3D plot shows two potential energy surfaces: section A, shaded red, rises sharply to illustrate the repulsive potential between two positive charges; section B, shaded blue, dips downward to show the attractive potential between a negative and a positive charge.

Diagram of an electrode configuration inside a metal tube, showing a blue circular rod at -20 volts and a red L-shaped bracket at +20 volts, with the tube itself at zero volts.

A grid of numbers on a gray background represents electrostatic potentials in volts. Central rows show red numbers at 20 volts and blue numbers at negative 20 volts, with other values decreasing outward and zeros along the edges.

A diagram of equipotential surfaces shows contour lines labeled with voltages from plus 20 volts near a red L-shaped object to minus 20 volts around a blue circle, illustrating how electric potential changes in space.

Diagram showing electric field lines as dashed curves radiating from a blue circle and bending around a red L-shaped object, with denser lines indicating stronger electric fields.

A three-dimensional wireframe graph with a steep red plateau and a deep blue well, illustrating the potential energy landscape experienced by a positive charge.

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electrical conduction pole electrical discharge electro-osmosis bioelectricity static electricity thermoelectricity Today in History—June 10: Benjamin Franklin Flies a Kite—and Makes History How does electricity work?electric potential gravity magnetism strong force weak interaction field radiation chemical bonding chemical element subatomic particle atom

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Key People

Watch a silent short of Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph and incandescent electric light

Thomas Edison

American inventor

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Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton

British inventor

Edward Weston

Edward Weston

British-born American engineer and industrialist

Brush, Charles Francis

Charles Francis Brush

American inventor and industrialist

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Fleeming Jenkin

British engineer

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Edwin James Houston

American engineer

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Charles François de Cisternay Du Fay

French chemist

Hermann von Helmholtz

Hermann von Helmholtz

German scientist and philosopher

Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley

English clergyman and scientist

James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell

Scottish mathematician and physicist

Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish

British physicist

Lomonosov, Mikhail

Mikhail Lomonosov

Russian author and scientist

Siméon-Denis Poisson

Siméon-Denis Poisson

French mathematician

Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry

American physicist

Kirchhoff, Gustav

Gustav Kirchhoff

German physicist

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Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch Aepinus

German physicist

Gilbert, William

William Gilbert

English scientist

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

French physicist

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Oliver Heaviside

British physicist

Georg Simon Ohm

Georg Ohm

German physicist

James Watt as a young man, c1769. Scottish engineer and instrument maker. Invented the modern steam engine which became the main source of power in Britain's textile mills. His engine had a separate condenser in which steam from the cylinder; (see notes)

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