Coulomb's Law

Coulomb's law
 This law states that the force between any two charges is directly proportional to the
product of the two charges and inversely proportional to the square of separation.
 This relationship is given by the following expression.
 This is called Coulomb's law after the scientist who discovered it.
 Coulomb's law is true for the force between two point charges.
 Coulomb's law is a consequence of inverse-square law.
 If The forces are going to be very small, so a sensitive measuring device is required to
register changes in the force as the distance between the charges is changed.
Coulomb's law - graphs

 Here an electronic top-pan balance that registers changes in mass to 0.01 g
(vertical force changes of 0.0001 N) is used.
 Figure above shows how the top-pan balance is used.

 Two conducting spheres, shown, are charged, e.g. by flicking the negative lower
sphere with a woollen cloth and using the positive terminal of a d.c. supply set at about
30V to charge the upper sphere.
 Note the way in which the charged spheres are insulated so that they do not lose their
charge during the experiment.
 The value for m on the top-pan balance is now taken for different distances between
the centres of the spheres.
 One way of recording how this distance changes without touching the charged
spheres is to project a shadow of them onto a nearby screen.
 Calling the distance between the centres of the shadows y, a set of results like those
in the table might be collected.
m/g 0.11 0.38 0.62 0.83 1.14
r/cm 12.0 6.4 5.0 4.3 3.7
 As m ∝ F, the force between the charged spheres, and y and r, the distance between the
centres of the spheres, then if it is found that m ∝ 1/y2 we can say that F ∝ 1/r2.
Example - 1
Two point charges, of +0.50µC and —0.50 µC, form an electric dipole of length 0.12 m.
(a) Calculate the size of the force between the charges. Comment on its size.
(b) Calculate the electric field strength at the midpoint between the charges.
(c) Sketch the shape of the electric field in the region of the dipole.
[Answers: (a) 1.3 × 10-4 (b) 8600NC-1]
ASSIGNMENT - 2
ELECTROSTATIC FIELDS
COULOMB’S LAW
1. How many electrons are contained in 1 C of charge? What is the mass of the electrons
in 1C of charge?
( Ans: 6.2 x 1018 electrons, 5.7 x 10 -12 Kg )
2. If two equal ehartes, each of I C, were separated in air by a distance of 1 km, what would
be the force between them?
( Ans: 9 kN ,repulsion )
3. Determine the force between two free electrons spaced 1 angstrom (10 -10m) apart.
(Ans: 23Nn, repulsion)
4. What is the force of repulsion between two argon nuclei that are separated by 1 nm ?
The charge on an argon nucleus is + 18e.
(Ans: 75nN)
5. Two equally charged balls are 3cm apart in air and repel each other with a force of 40 pN.
Compute the charge on each ball.
(Ans: 2nC)
6. Two identical tiny metal balls have charges q1 and q2. The repulsive force one exerts on
the other when they are 20 cm apart is 1.35 x 10-4N. After the balls are touched together
and then separated once again to 20 cm, the repulsive force is found to be 1.406 x 10 -4N. Find
q1 and q2
( Ans: q1 = 2OnC, q2= 30 nC )
7. Three point charges are placed at the following points on the x — axis: +2µC at x= 0, -3 µC at
x= 40cm, -5 µC at x= 120cm. Find the force
(a) on the -3 µC charge, (b) on the -5 µC charge.
(Ans: (a) -0.55N; (b) 0.15N)
8. Four equal point charges of + 3 pC are placed at the four corners of a square that is 40 cm on a
side. Find the force on any one of the charges.
(Ans: 0.97 N outward along the diagonal )
9. Four equal point charges + 3 µC are placed at the corners of a square that is 40 cm on a side.
Two, diagonally opposite to each other, are positive and the other two are negative. Find the
force on either negative charge.
(Ans: 0.46N inward along the diagonal )
10. Charges of +2, +3 and -8 µC are placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle of side 10cm. '
Calculate the magnitude of the force acting on the -8 µC charge due to the other two charges.
(Ans: 31.4N)
11. One charge (+ 5 µC) is placed at x = 0, and a second charge (+7 µC) at x = 100cm . Where can a
third be placed so as to experience zero net force due to the other two ?
( Ans : at x = 45.8 cm )
12. A charge of +6pC experiences a force of 2 mN in the +x direction at a certain point in space.
(a) What was the electric field there before the charge was placed there ?
(b) Describe the force a - 2µC charge would experience if it were used in place of the +6µC
charge.
(Ans: (a) 333 NC-1 in +x — direction - 5 (b) 0.67 mN in —x - direction)
13. A point charge of -3 x 10-5 C is placed at the origin of coordinates. Find the electric field at the
point x = 5m on the x- axis.
(Ans: 10.8 kNC-1 in the x — direction )
Athula Ratnayake

Coulomb's Law - Questions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Coulomb's Law - Questions

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Coulomb's Law - Questions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Coulomb's law - graphs

 Figure above shows how the top-pan balance is used.

You might also like