It is common experience for most of you to see a spark or to hear a crackle when you take off our synthetic jackets or sport shirt, particularly during dry weathers. You may also experience shocking sensation while touching some metal surfaces. Have you ever tried to find any cultural or scientific reason for these phenomena? Another common observation for most of us is lightning that we see in the sky during thunderstorms. The reason for all these phenomena is discharge of electric charges, which were accumulated due to friction. In other words, such a phenomenon is due to generation of static electricity. This is precisely the topic we are going to discuss in this unit. Static means anything that does not move or change with time, and static charge is charge at rest. Electrostatics deals with the study of forces, fields and potentials arising from static charges.