NCCER Introduction to Electrical Circuits (26103-23) Practice Test

Like charges repel. When two objects carry the same type of electric charge, the electrostatic force between them pushes them apart. This repulsive effect comes from Coulomb’s law: the force grows with the product of the charges and diminishes with distance; with the same sign, the product is positive, so the force points away from each other. Opposite charges attract, which is a different behavior. Induction is polarization of a neutral object by a nearby charge, and conduction is transfer of charge through contact. Since the statement describes pushing apart, the term that fits is repulsion.