Electrostatics is the branch of physics that studies the electric charges that are at rest, focusing on the forces, fields, and potentials associated with these stationary charges. The foundation of the field rests on the principles that electric forces are primarily attractive or repulsive, meaning like charges repel and opposite charges attract. Key concepts include electric charge, electric field intensity, and electric potential, which quantify the force and potential energy experienced by a test charge at a given location. The governing equations for this field involve quantifying how charge distributions create predictable force fields and how these fields influence the behavior of electrically charged materials.