ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Surface charge

Surface charge is like having a team of tiny superheroes on a surface that protect it from bad guys who try to get in.

Think about the corridor outside your room. You might have a sign that says "keep out" so that your siblings or friends don't come in and bother you. This sign is like the surface charge on a material.

But the sign is static, whereas surface charge is dynamic. The surface of many materials, like plastic or metal, have tiny electric charges on them that repel bad guys, like dust, dirt or germs.

Imagine your superheroes zapping the dust bunnies and germs with lightning bolts to keep your corridor clean. That's what the charges on a surface do too.

These charges help the surface stay cleaner and less prone to corrosion, wear and tear, or even sticking. This is why when you rub the surface of a balloon with your hair, it sticks to the wall – the surface charge changes and attracts the opposite charge on the wall.

Surface charge is important in many different fields like physics, chemistry, and biology because it affects how different things interact with each other. So, it's like having a shield on a surface, keeping it safe and clean from bad guys like tiny superheroes!