Coulomb force is the force between any two electrically charged objects. And it's very important, for example, inside an atom. The electron has a negative charge and the proton has a positive charge. But you also get a Coulomb force between two objects with the same charge. Something that I think people are probably quite familiar with is taking a balloon and rubbing it on something and then sticking it to the ceiling. That uses the Coulomb force because what you do when you rub the balloon is actually removing or encouraging some of the electrons that make up the balloon.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an atomic particle that's become inseparable from modernity. JJ Thomson discovered the electron 125 years ago, so revealing that atoms, supposedly the smallest things, were made of even smaller things. He pictured them inside an atomic ball like a plum pudding, with others later identifying their place outside the nucleus - and it is their location on the outer limit that has helped scientists learn so much about electrons and with electrons. We can use electrons to reveal the secrets of other particles and, while electricity exists whether we understand electrons or not, the applications of electricity and electrons grow as our knowledge grows. Many questions, though, remain unanswered.
With
Victoria Martin
Professor of Collider Physics at the University of Edinburgh
Harry Cliff
Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge
And
Frank Close
Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson