The important information contained in this chapter is summarized below.

Forces Around Atoms Summary

Electrostatic Force - force that holds an electron in orbit around a nucleus

Electrostatic Field - force acting between charged objects that causes them to repel or attract

Potential Difference - measures how large the electrostatic force is between two charged objects. According to Coulomb's Law, charged bodies attract or repel each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their charges and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Electromotive Force (EMF) - sum of the potential differences of all charged particles in an electrostatic field

Ion Charge - dependent on the loss or gain of free electrons (if an atom gains an electron - negative ion charge; if an atom loses an electron - positive ion charge)