Coulomb's Law

Front

What is Coulomb's Law?

Back

Coulomb's Law describes the electrostatic force between two charged objects, stating 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 electrostatic force if the distance between two charges is doubled?

Back

The force is reduced by a factor of 1/4.

Front

If the magnitude of both charges is doubled, what happens to the electrostatic force?

Back

The force quadruples.

Front

What is the formula for calculating the electrostatic force between two charges?

Back

F = k * (|q1 * q2|) / r^2, where F is the force, k is Coulomb's constant, q1 and q2 are the charges, and r is the distance between them.

Front

What is Coulomb's constant (k)?

Back

Coulomb's constant (k) is approximately 8.99 x 10^9 N m²/C².

Front

How does the sign of the charges affect the electrostatic force?

Back

Like charges repel each other (force is positive), while opposite charges attract each other (force is negative).

Front

Calculate the force between two charges of +5 C and +8 C that are 8 m apart.

Back

F = k * (|5 * 8|) / 8^2 = 5.625 x 10^9 N.

Front

What is the electrostatic force between a charge of +3.0 x 10^-5 C and +6.0 x 10^-6 C at a distance of 0.30 m?

Back

F = k * (|3.0 x 10^-5 * 6.0 x 10^-6|) / (0.30)^2 = 1.8 x 10^1 N.

Front

What is the relationship between charge and force according to Coulomb's Law?

Back

The electrostatic force is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges.

Front

What happens to the force if one charge is tripled while the other remains constant?

Back

The force also triples.