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
/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.
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