michael faraday discovered positive and negative charges in atoms.
michael faraday discovered positive and negative charges in atoms.
who discovered positive and negative charges in atoms?
michael faraday
in the 18th century and 19th century, scientists including charles-augustin de coulomb, alessandro volta, and michael faraday built upon newtonian mechanics by exploring electromagnetism, or the interplay of forces with positive and negative charges on electrically charged particles. faraday proposed that forces in nature operated in "fields" that filled space. the idea of fields contrasted with the newtonian construct of gravitation as simply "action at a distance", or the attraction of objects with nothing in the space between them to intervene. james clerk maxwell in the 19th century unified these discoveries in a coherent theory of electrodynamics. using mathematical equations and experimentation, maxwell discovered that space was filled with charged particles that could act upon themselves and each other and that they were a medium for the transmission of charged waves.
natural science
materials are made of atoms that are normally electrically neutral because they contain equal numbers of positive charges (protons in their nuclei) and negative charges (electrons in "shells" surrounding the nucleus). the phenomenon of static electricity requires a separation of positive and negative charges. when two materials are in contact, electrons may move from one material to the other, which leaves an excess of positive charge on one material, and an equal negative charge on the other. when the materials are separated they retain this charge imbalance.









































contact-induced charge separation
static electricity