What are electric charges?

Electric charges are like invisible friends that some things have and can share or push away from each other.

Imagine you're playing with balloons on a windy day. When you rub a balloon against your hair, it gets electric charge, just like how your hair might stick up after the balloon moves away. This happens because the balloon is sharing or taking some of the invisible friends from your hair, these are called electrons.

When something has more invisible friends (called extra electrons), it becomes negatively charged, like a balloon that sticks to a wall. When something loses those friends, it becomes positively charged, like your hair when the balloon pulls away.

If two things have the same kind of charge, both negative or both positive, they push each other away, just like two kids who don’t want to share their toys. But if one is positive and the other is negative, they pull toward each other, like best friends wanting to hug.

So electric charges are like invisible friends that help things either push or pull each other, just like when you rub a balloon on your head!