Electronic – What happens if an object has a negative electrical charge and it is touched to an object with a neutral charge

charge

I am a beginner in this subject and trying to understand the basics.

If I rub my feet on a carpet and pick up additional negative charge on my body and touch a neutrally charged object, say a piece of metal, will the excess electrons in my body not flow into this object because it is neutrally charged?

Best Answer

When a negatively charged object is brought in contact with a neutral object, then the charges will redistribute and try to get balanced. On contact, the charges will distribute so that the potential difference between them becomes zero, that's both have same potential.

This is in accordance with: \$V=Q_1/C_1= Q_2/C_2\$

\$C_1\$ and \$C_2\$ are the capacitances. \$Q_1\$ and \$Q_2\$ are the new charge distribution. And \$Q_1+Q_2 \$ = net charge at the beginning before making the contact.