Everyone at school studies physics. And it's no secret that there is such a branch of physics - electrostatics. What kind of science is "physics"? What problems in physics does electrostatics solve? And in general, what is she studying - electrostatics - is she engaged in? Well, let's try to figure it out.
Nature Science
Let's start with the definition of "physics", electrostatics can wait.
The name of one of the most extensive sciences of natural science comes from the ancient Greek word φύσις - nature. Physics is the science of the laws of nature (and they (these laws) are not only the simplest, but also the most general), about matter itself, as well as about its structure and its movement. Like any other science, physics consists of several components, among which is electrodynamics, which is devoted to the study of the electromagnetic field and its interaction with bodies and particles that have an electric charge. Electrostatics is part of this branch of physics.
Section of electrodynamics
Electrostatics is completely devoted to bodies at rest, havingpositive or negative electrical charge. There is such a thing as a "point electric charge" - this is a body that is positively or negatively charged, the size and shape of which can be neglected in the course of solving such a problem (in other words, if the distances between the studied bodies are much greater than their sizes).
Interaction between such charges is determined by Coulomb's law. It states that the force resulting from the interaction of two point charges at rest has a direct dependence on the magnitude of each of them and an inverse dependence on the square of the distance between these charges. Moreover, such a force has a direction along the line of connection of the considered charges. Thus, electrostatics studies electric charges at rest, which can be positive or negative.
