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Understanding Coulomb's Law and Forces

Coulomb's Law describes the force between two point charges as directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The document includes examples illustrating the application of Coulomb's Law in various scenarios, such as calculating forces between charged particles and deriving expressions for separation distances. It also discusses the concept of permittivity in different media and provides specific values for the dielectric constants of materials.

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TAN RU XIAN Moe
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10 views3 pages

Understanding Coulomb's Law and Forces

Coulomb's Law describes the force between two point charges as directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The document includes examples illustrating the application of Coulomb's Law in various scenarios, such as calculating forces between charged particles and deriving expressions for separation distances. It also discusses the concept of permittivity in different media and provides specific values for the dielectric constants of materials.

Uploaded by

TAN RU XIAN Moe
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

17/02/2025

Coulomb’s Law
The are two types of electric charge, positive (+) charge, and
negative (-) charge

The force F between two point charges is directly proportional


to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between the charges.
QQ QQ
Force, F  1 2 2 F  k 12 2
r r
The force F between two point charges form an action-reaction
pair that obeys Newton’s third law of motion

Q1Q2 o  Is known as the permittivity


F k of free space for charges in
r2 QQ free space
F  1 22
1 4 o r  o  8.85  10 12 Fm 1
k
4 o   ro
Q1Q2
For charges in an insulating medium, F
4 r 2
 is the permittivity of the medium
r is a constant, known as the relative permittivity of the medium.
is also known as the dielectric constant of the medium
Material r The dielectric of vacuum is exactly 1
Vacuum 1 whereas that of air is 1.0006.
Air 1.0006 the difference of the electric force
Mica 5 between two point charges in air compared
Rubber 3 to the force between the charges in vacuum
is negligible
1
17/02/2025

Example 1

The figure shows two small conducting spheres hanging from fine
nylon threads of length, ℓ. The mass of each sphere is m and the
charges on the spheres are Q1 and Q2 respectively. Assume that the
angle is small such that tan   sin , deduce an expression for x,
the separation between the spheres in terms of Q1, Q2, ℓ, m g and o.
Q1Q2
T sin   F  ........(1) T cos  =mg……....(2)
4 o x 2
(1) Q1Q2
 tan  
(2) 4 o x 2 mg
x
tan   sin  ( is small )  / 1
2
x Q1Q2  Q Q  3
  x 1 2 
2 4 o x 2 mg  2 o mg 

Example 2

Assume that a hydrogen atom consists of an electron of charge e-


orbiting a proton of charge e+. Calculate the ratio of the
electrostatic force between the electron and proton to the
gravitational force between them.
(mass of electron me = 9.1 x 1.67 x 10-27 kg)
ee r = radius of electron orbit around
Electrostatic force, Fe 
4 o r 2 the proton
me  m p
Gravitational force, Fe  G
r2
 r  1.6  1019 
2 2 2
Fe e
   
Fg 4 o r 2  Gme m p  4 (8.85  1012 )(6.67 1011 )(9.11031 )(1.67 1027 )
 2.27 1039

2
17/02/2025

Example 3

Three charged particles A, B, and C are fixed along a straight line as


shown in the figure. Deduce an expression for the force on the
particle B.

Q2
Force on B due to A, FA  in the direction BC
4 o d 2
Q(2Q) 2Q 2
F
Force on B due to C, C   in the direction BA
4 o d 2 4 o d 2

Resultant force on B, F = FC – FA in the direction BA


2
2Q Q2 Q2
  
4 o d 2 4 o d 2 4 o d 2

Example 4

In the figure shown, ABC is an isosceles triangle such that angle


BAC is 90o, AB = AC = 5.0 cm. The charge q = 1.0 x 10-7 C,
Calculate the force on the charge at A.

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