Electrostatics, abbreviated as ES, is the branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest and the forces, fields, and potentials associated with them. It focuses on the behavior of stationary electric charges, which can create electric fields that exert forces on other charges. These interactions are governed by fundamental principles, such as Coulomb's law, which describes the force between two point charges as directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Electrostatic phenomena include the attraction or repulsion of charged objects, like a balloon sticking to a wall after being rubbed or the spark produced by static electricity. The concept of electric potential, or voltage, also arises in electrostatics, representing the energy required to move a charge within an electric field. These principles are foundational to understanding many natural phenomena and technological applications, such as capacitors in electronics, electrostatic precipitators for air purification, and the behavior of lightning. Electrostatics is a component of classical electromagnetism, distinct from electrodynamics, which deals with moving charges and time-varying fields.
