What is Electricity?

Electricity is a property of certain subatomic particles (e.g. electrons / protons) which couples to electromagnetic fields and causes attractive and repulsive forces between them. Electricity gives rise to one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and is a conserved property of matter that can be quantified. In this sense, the phrase "quantity of electricity" is used interchangeably with the phrases "charge of electricity" and "quantity of charge." There are two types of electricity or charge: we call one kind of electricity positive and the other negative. Through experimentation, we find that like-charged objects repel and opposite-charged objects attract one another. The magnitude of the force of attraction or repulsion is given by Coulomb's law. Some electrical effects are discussed under electrical phenomenon and electromagnetism.

The SI unit of electricity is the coulomb, which has the abbreviation "C". The symbol Q is used in equations to represent the quantity of electricity or charge. For example, "Q = 0.5 C" means "the quantity of electric charge is 0.5 coulomb."

Terminology issues In addition to its definition by physicists, the word electricity has several popular definitions which are contradictory. Rather than using the word electricity to refer to the quantity of electric charge, many sources instead say that electricity is the quantity of electromagnetic energy measured in joules or kilowatt-hours. Other sources call the motion of charges within a conductor by the name electricity, and they measure the quantity of electricity in terms of amperes. Still others call a wide variety of electrical phenomena by the name electricity, e.g. bioelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, etc. It is advisable to be extremely careful when interpreting texts which employ the frequently misused term "electricity" in place of the more accurate terms electric charge, electric current, electrical energy, etc.