Electrostatics

Electromagnetism
Electricity · Magnetism · Magnetic permeability
Electrostatics Electric charge • Coulomb's law • Electric field • Electric flux • Gauss's law • Electric potential energy • Electric potential • Electrostatic induction • Electric dipole moment • Polarization density
Magnetostatics Ampère's law • Electric current • Magnetic field • Magnetization • Magnetic flux • Biot–Savart law • Magnetic dipole moment • Gauss's law for magnetism
Electrodynamics Lorentz force law • emf • Electromagnetic induction • Faraday’s law • Lenz's law • Displacement current • Maxwell's equations • EM field • Electromagnetic radiation • Liénard–Wiechert potential • Maxwell tensor • Eddy current
Electrical Network Electrical conduction • Electrical resistance • Capacitance • Inductance • Impedance • Resonant cavities • Waveguides
Covariant formulation Electromagnetic tensor • EM Stress-energy tensor • Four-current • Electromagnetic four-potential
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Electrostatics (also known as static electricity) is the branch of physics that deals with apparently stationary electric charges.

Electrostatics involves the buildup of charge on the surface of objects due to contact with other surfaces.

Although charge exchange happens whenever any two surfaces contact and separate, the effects of charge exchange are usually only noticed when at least one of the surfaces has a high resistance to electrical flow. This is because the charges that transfer to or from the highly resistive surface are more or less trapped there for a long enough time for their effects to be observed.

These charges then remain on the object until they either bleed off to the ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge: e.g., the familiar phenomenon of a static 'shock' is caused by the neutralization of charge built up in the body from contact with non-conductive surfaces.