Coulomb: Understanding the Fundamental Unit of Electric Charge

[Stripe]

Ok not 100% if this is right place but it's not homework so...

What the hell is a coulomb I've looked everywhere and everything seems to be different.

So is it the charge on electrons?

Or is it a packet of electrons? 6 million million million electrons = coulomb?!??

Sorry if this seems dumb :(

 

[rcgldr]

Wiki is always a good starting point:

Unofficially, a coulomb is then equal to exactly 6.241 509 629 152 65 × 10¹⁸ elementary charges. :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb

 

[Stripe]

Yeah I've checked wiki but it seems to contradict other material I've read... how would you describe it?

 

[Rudipoo]

The Coulomb is the SI unit of charge. It is just a standard against which we can compare the relative charges of difference objects; just like we might say this object has a mass of 1kg, and this object has a mass of 3kg, we could say one object has 1 coulomb (C) of charge, and another has 10C. It has meaning in the sense that we can compare the relative charges from object to object.

 

[jtbell]

The official definition of the coulomb is, "the amount of charge carried past a point in a wire by a one-ampere current in one second."

 

[I_am_no1]

Actually COULOMB was a famous scientist ! (maybe was a justice also he he he as long as one of his invention is known as COULOUMBs LAW . . . kidding!) the unit of charge is entitled with his name !
When you send 1A current though a conductor for 1 second then the amount of flow in any width of it is 1 COULOMB!

and ELECTRIC CURRENT means the FLOW OF ELECTRON!

q = I t
where q = charge
I = Electric Current
t = Time

and always q = n e
where, e = charge of electron
n = any full number

 

[nooma]

OK mate... the coulomb is a measure of electrons in the same way that a dozen is a measure of eggs.
When anyone refers to coulombs they are talking about a quantity of electrons.

If you buy a dozen eggs you know you are getting 12 eggs.
If you have 1 coulomb of of charges you have approx. 6.25 x 10¹⁸ charges.

In terms of electricity a coulomb is the number of electrons.

 

[Stripe]

Ok so i THINK i have it i really appreciate all the replies guys :D i owe you all!