Electric field of a positive and a negative point charge. Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field.There are two types of electric charges: positive and negative.lectric charge is a characteristic property of many subatomic particles. The charges of free-standing particles are integer multiples of the elementary charge e; we say that electric charge is quantized. Michael Faraday, in his electrolysis experiments, was the first to note the discrete nature of electric charge.