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In physics, charge conservation is the principle that electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed. The net quantity of electric charge, the amount of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge in the universe, is always ''conserved''. The first written statement of the principle was by American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin in 1747. Charge conservation is a physical law that states that the change in the amount of electric charge in any volume of space is exactly equal to the amount of charge flowing into the volume minus the amount of charge flowing out of the volume. In essence, charge conservation is an accounting relationship between the amount of charge in a region and the flow of charge into and out of that region. Mathematically, we can state the law as a continuity equation: : is the quantity of electric charge in a specific volume at time , is the amount of charge flowing into the volume between time and , and is the amount of charge flowing out of the volume during the same time period. This does not mean that individual positive and negative charges cannot be created or destroyed. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles such as electrons and protons, which can be created and destroyed. In particle physics, charge conservation means that in elementary particle reactions that create charged particles, equal numbers of positive and negative particles are always created, keeping the net amount of charge unchanged. Similarly, when particles are destroyed, equal numbers of positive and negative charges are destroyed. Although conservation of charge requires that the total quantity of charge in the universe is constant, it leaves open the question of what that quantity is. Most evidence indicates that the net charge in the universe is zero;〔 〕〔 〕 that is, there are equal quantities of positive and negative charge. ==Formal statement of the law== Vector calculus can be used to express the law in terms of charge density (in coulombs per cubic meter) and electric current density (in amperes per square meter): : The term on the left is the rate of change of the charge density at a point. The term on the right is the divergence of the current density . The equation equates these two factors, which says that the only way for the charge density at a point to change is for a current of charge to flow into or out of the point. This statement is equivalent to a conservation of four-current. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charge conservation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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