According to Coulomb, the electric force for charges at rest has the following properties: Like charges repel each other; unlike charges attract. Thus, two negative charges repel one another, while a positive charge attracts a negative charge.
There are only two different sorts of known charge which scientists have labelled as 'positive' and 'negative'. These names were chosen historically to indicate that they were somehow 'opposites' of each other, to help emphasise the two different observable forms.
