How do charged objects become neutral? If I charge an object and keep it at some place forever, will it forever be charged?

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How do charged objects become neutral? If I charge an object and keep it at some place forever, will it forever be charged?

In: Physics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two ways, by gaining particles of the opposite charge or by emitting charged particles. This flow of charged particles is essentially electricity. Opposite charges attract (and same charges repel) so if you try and make an object have a high charge then nearby opposite charges will be attracted, and it will repel like charges away.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Opposite charges attract. So an electrical charged object will attract ions which happen to be around them. When these ions touches the object they give off their charge and gets charged the other way and gets repelled from the object. So you end up with these ions moving to and from the object shuffling charges from other objects nearby.

Anonymous 0 Comments

/u/whyisthesky /u/Gnonthgol covered how it becomes neutral. For the second question, yes, if you charge an object and stick it somewhere where it can’t attract any charges from the environment and make it from a material that can’t release any charged particles, it will stay charged “forever”. This is how flash memory works…you charge up a tiny bit of material that’s surrounded by a very good insulator and it holds that charge.

“Forever” in quotes because we’re still not totally sure if protons are stable or just have *really* long half-lives. If protons can decay, that’s an alternate path to generate charged particles which can then be released.