Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law.
electrostatics, the study of electromagnetic phenomena that occur when there are no moving charges—i.e., after a static equilibrium has been established. Charges reach their equilibrium positions rapidly, because the electric force is extremely strong.
Electrostatics is the study of stationary electric charges and the forces between them, focusing on interactions, electric fields, and potential energy.
In many real electrostatic problems, however, we do not know, initially, where the charges are. We know only that they have distributed themselves in ways that depend on the properties of matter.
Electrostatic forces are non-contact forces that can push or pull on items without coming into contact with them. A storm cloud's internal accumulation of static electricity produces lightning.
The term “static” refers to the fact that these aspects of electromagnetic theory can be developed by assuming sources are time-invariant; we might say that electrostatics is the study of the electric field at DC. However, many aspects of electrostatics are relevant to AC, radio frequency, and higher-frequency applications as well.
Electrostatics is the branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest, focusing on the forces, fields, and potentials they create. It includes phenomena such as attraction and repulsion of charges, behavior of conductors and insulators, and charge distribution.
The second big difference between the electrostatic force and gravity is that electrostatic forces come in two types: attractive and repulsive. There are two types of charge, and that means the force can go in one of two directions: toward and away.