Coulomb's Law

W15 Activity 2 Coulomb's Law Practice

By Nicholas Carrillo

​Some text here about the topic of discussion.

​Coulomb's Law describes the force between two charges.

​

The magnitude of the force is based on the charges, and the distance between them.

​

If q1 = -3C, q2 = 5C,​ and the distance between them is 1m, what is the magnitude of the force between them?

​

​ke = 9x10⁹ Nm²/C²

​

F = k​e |-3*5|/(1)²

​

​F = k​e |-15|

​

F = (9x10​⁹)*15

​

F = 135 x 10⁹ N​

​Let's try another.

If q1 = 2C and q2 = 3C, and the distance between them is 0.5m, what is the magnitude of the force between them?

​ke = 9x10⁹ Nm²/C²

​

F = k​e |3*2|/(0.5)²

​

​F = k​e |6|/0.25

​

F = (9x10​⁹)*6/.25

​

F = 54 x 10⁹/0.25 ​

​F = 216 x 10⁹ N​

Now we want to look at how the distance affects the force.

How much does the force decrease if we double the distance between the charges?

Let's say the force when the two charges are 3m apart is F₁, and the force when they are 6m apart is F₂.

​

What is the final force, F₂,compared to inital force, F₁?