Enter the charge of object 1, the charge of object 2, and the distance between them to calculate the electric force between them. Calculate the attractive or repulsive electric force between two objects.
Coulomb’s Law Formula
The formula for the electric force between two charged particles is as follows:
F = Ke * q₁ * q₂ /r²
- F is the electrostatic force between the two objects
- q1 is the magnitude of the first charge
- q2 is the magnitude of the second charge
- r is the distance between them
- Ke is coulomn’s constant which is equal to 8.98755 * 10⁹ N * m² / C²
What is Coulomb’s Law?
Coulomb’s law is also known as the inverse-square law. It’s a law of physics that describes the force between two stationary particles. These particles of course need to be charged, or there would be no force between them. This force is known as the electrostatic effect. This law was fundamental to the development of the theory of electromagnetism.
In exact terms, the following quote describes coulomb’s law,.
“The magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.The force is along the straight line joining them. If the two charges have the same sign, the electrostatic force between them is repulsive; if they have different signs, the force between them is attractive.” Source.
The units used for this calculation are newtons for force, coulombs for charge, and meters for distance.
How to calculate an electric force
- First, determine the charges of both points
The charge of each object must first be measured. For this example we will say both points hold a charge of 10 coulombs.
- Next, find the distance between object
The distance between the objects should be the shortest point between them. For this example we will assume 10 meters
- Finally, enter the information into the formula
Using the formula above we find the electric force is 8987550000 N.
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