Coulomb's Law & Charging

Front

What is Coulomb's Law?

Back

Coulomb's Law describes the force between two charged objects. It states that the force is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Front

What happens to the force between two charges if the distance between them is halved?

Back

The force between the charges quadruples because force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.

Front

Define charging by conduction.

Back

Charging by conduction occurs when two objects with different charges come into direct contact, allowing electrons to transfer from one object to another.

Front

What is the effect of a negatively charged object on nearby neutral objects?

Back

A negatively charged object can induce a charge separation in nearby neutral objects, causing electrons to be repelled and creating a positive charge on the side closest to the negative object.

Front

Explain the concept of electric field.

Back

An electric field is a region around a charged object where other charged objects experience a force. The strength and direction of the field can be represented by field lines.

Front

What is the principle of superposition in electrostatics?

Back

The principle of superposition states that the total force acting on a charge due to multiple other charges is the vector sum of the individual forces exerted by each charge.

Front

What is the relationship between charge and electric force?

Back

The electric force between two charges increases with the amount of charge and decreases with the square of the distance between them.

Front

Define polarization in the context of charging.

Back

Polarization is the process where the distribution of electric charge within an object is altered due to the influence of an external electric field, leading to a temporary separation of charges.

Front

What happens to an electron in an electric field?

Back

An electron in an electric field experiences a force that causes it to accelerate in the direction opposite to the field, as electrons are negatively charged.

Front

What is the net charge of an object?

Back

The net charge of an object is the total amount of positive charge minus the total amount of negative charge present in that object.