An electroscope is a scientific tool which helps in detecting the presence of an electric charge on a body. The first electroscope was a pivoted needle electroscope invented in the year 1600 by a British physicist William Gilbert, known as vesorium.
Electroscope measures a charge that is dependent on the Coulomb electrostatic force that triggers the movement of the test charge. Electroscopes are often considered as basic voltmeter because the electrostatic charge of an object is adequate to its capacitance. The concentration of enough charge to be detected by an electroscope requires a vast amount of volts. Hence, the use of electroscopes with high voltage sources such as static electricity and electrostatic devices. The instrument for measuring the quantitative electrostatic charge is an electrometer.
