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INDEX
1. Certificate
2. Acknowledgement
3. Objective
4. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
5. Coulomb’s Law
6. Theory
7. Materials required
8. Procedure
9. Observations
10. Calculations
11. Result
12. Precautions
13. Sources of error
14. Bibliography
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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the PHYSICS project titled
“Coulomb’s Law” has been successfully
completed by Urva Patel of class Xll, Krishna
International School, in the partial fulfillment by
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
leading to the award of the annual examination
of the year 2022 -2023.
EXAMINER’S SIGNATURE TEACHER’S SIGNATURE
SCHOOL STAMP DATE: -
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
“No one who achieves success does so without
acknowledging the help of others. The wise and
confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.”
~Alfred North Whitehead~
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my physics
teacher Mr. Bhavik Khatri, for his vital support, guidance
and encouragement, without which this project would not
have come forth.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the OTHER
staff of the Department of Physics for their support during
the making of this project.
I would also thank my parents for their blessing and
cooperation that have encouraged me to complete this
project.
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TO ESTIMATE
THE CHARGE
INDUCED ON
EACH OF THE
TWO IDENTICAL
STYRO FOAM
(OR PITH) BALLS
SUSPENDED IN A
VERTICAL PLANE
BY MAKING USE
OF COULOMB’S
LAW
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CHARLS-AUGUSTIN DE
COULOMB
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
(14 June 1736 –
23 August 1806) was a French
military engineer and physicist.
He is best known for developing
what is now known as
Coulomb's law, the description
of the electrostatic force of
attraction and repulsion, but
also did important work on
friction.
The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named
in his honor in 1908. In 1785, Coulomb presented his first three
reports on Electricity and Magnetism.
Coulomb describes "How to construct and use an
electric balance (torsion balance) based on the property of the
metal wires of having a reaction torsion force proportional to the
torsion angle." Coulomb also experimentally determined the law
that explains how "two bodies electrified of the same kind of
Electricity exert on each other."
Coulomb explained the laws of attraction and
repulsion between electric charges and magnetic poles,
although he did not find any relationship between the two
phenomena. He thought that the attraction and repulsion were
due to different kinds of fluids.
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COULOMB’S LAW
Coulomb's law, or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of
physics for quantifying Coulomb's force, or electrostatic force.
Electrostatic force is the amount of force with which stationary,
electrically charged particles either repel, or attract each other.
This force and the law for quantifying it, represent one of the most
basic forms of force used in the physical sciences, and were an
essential basis to the study and development of the theory and
field of classical electromagnetism. The law was first published in
1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.
In its scalar form, the law is:
𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹=
𝑟2
where k is Coulomb's constant (k ≈ 9×109 N m2 C-2), q1 and q2 are
the signed magnitudes of the charges, and the scalar r is the
distance between the charges. The force of the interaction
between the charges is attractive if the charges have opposite
signs (i.e., F is negative) and repulsive if like-signed (i.e., F is
positive).
Being an inverse-square law, the law is analogous to Isaac
Newton's inverse-square law of universal gravitation. Coulomb's
law can be used to derive Gauss's law, and vice versa. The law
has been tested extensively, and all observations have upheld the
laws of Newton.
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OBJECTIVE: -
To estimate the charge induced on each of the two
identical Styrofoam (or pith) balls suspended in a
vertical plane by making use of Coulomb’s law.
MATERIALS REQUIRED: -
Small size identical Styrofoam balls
Physical balance or electronic balance
Meter Scale
Teflon thread
Stand
Glass rod (or plastic rod)
Silk cloth (or wool cloth)
THEORY: -
The fundamental concept in electrostatics is electrical charge. We
are all familiar with the fact that rubbing two materials together
(For example, a rubber comb on cat fur) produces a “static”
charge. This process is called charging by friction. Surprisingly,
the exact physics of the process of charging by friction is poorly
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understood. However, it is known that the making and breaking of
contact between the two materials transfers the charge.
The charged particles which make up the universe come in three
kinds: positive, negative, and neutral. Neutral particles do not
interact with electrical forces. Charged particles exert electrical
and magnetic forces on one another, but if the charges are
stationary, the mutual force is very simple in form and is given by
Coulomb's Law:
𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹=
𝑟2
where F is the electrical force between any two stationary
charged particles with charges q₁ and q₂ (measured in
coulombs), r is the separation between the charges (measured in
meters), and k is a constant of nature (equal to 9×10 9 Nm2/C2 in
SI units).
The study of the Coulomb forces among arrangements of
stationary charged particles is called electrostatics. Coulomb's
Law describes three properties of the electrical force:
The force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between the charges, and is directed along the straight line that
connects their centers.
The force is proportional to the product of the magnitude of the
charges.
Two particles of the same charge exert a repulsive force on each
other, and two particles of opposite charge exert an attractive
force on each other.
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Most of the common objects we deal with in the macroscopic
(human-sized) world are electrically neutral. They are composed
of atoms that consist of negatively charged electrons moving in
quantum motion around a positively charged nucleus. The total
negative charge of the electrons is normally exactly equal to the
total positive charge of the nuclei, so the atoms (and therefore the
entire object) have no net electrical charge. When we charge a
material by friction, we are transferring some of the electrons from
one material to another.
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Materials such as metals are conductors. Each metal atom
contributes one or two electrons that can move relatively freely
through the material. A conductor will carry an electrical current.
Other materials such as glass are insulators. Their electrons are
bound tightly and cannot move. Charge sticks on an insulator, but
does not move freely through it.
A neutral particle is not affected
by electrical forces.
Nevertheless, a charged object
will attract a neutral
macroscopic object by the
process of electrical
polarization. For example, if a
negatively charged rod is
brought close to an isolated, neutral insulator, the electrons in the
atoms of the insulator will be pushed slightly away from the
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negative rod, and the positive nuclei will be attracted slightly
toward the negative rod. We say that the rod
has induced polarization in the insulator, but its net charge is still
zero.
The polarization of charge in the insulator is small, but now its
positive charge is a bit closer to the negative rod, and its negative
charge is a bit farther away. Thus, the positive charge is attracted
to the rod more strongly than the negative charge is repelled, and
there is an overall net attraction.
If the negative rod is brought near an isolated, neutral conductor,
the conductor will also be polarized. In the conductor, electrons
are free to move through the material, and some of them are
repelled over to the opposite surface of the conductor, leaving the
surface near the negative rod with a net positive charge. The
conductor has been polarized, and will now be attracted to the
charged rod.
Now if we connect a conducting wire or any other conducting
material from the polarized conductor to the ground, we provide a
“path” through which the electrons can move. Electrons will
actually move along this path to the ground. If the wire or path is
subsequently disconnected, the conductor as a whole is left with a
net positive charge. The conductor has been charged without
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actually being touched with the charged rod, and its charge is
opposite that of the rod. This procedure is called charging by
induction.
Let the force between two stationary charges be F.
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PROCEDURE: -
Weight the mass of each identical pith balls by balance and
note down it.
Tie the balls with two silk or cotton threads and suspend at a
point on a stand or a rigid support. Measure the length of
threads by meter scale. The length of threads should be
equal. Note down the length.
Rub the glass rod with silk cloth and touch with both balls
together so that the balls acquired equal charge.
Suspend the balls freely and the balls stay away a certain
distance between the balls when they become stationary.
Note down the distance.
Touch any one suspended ball with other uncharged third
ball and takes the third ball away and repeat the step 4.
Touch other suspended ball with other uncharged fourth ball
and takes the fourth ball away and repeat the step 4.
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OBSERVATION: -
Mass of each ball, (m) = g.
Radius of each ball, (r) = mm.
Length of each thread, (l) = cm.
[Link] CHARGE ON BALL A CHARGE ON BALL DISTANCE BETWEEN
() B THE BALLS
() (x cm)
1.
2.
3.
4.
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CALCULATIONS: -
By using the relation:
𝑚𝑔𝑥 3
𝑞=√
2𝐾𝑙
Calculate the charge in each case.
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RESULTS: -
The charge on each ball = C
PRECAUTIONS: -
The suspended balls should not be touched by any
conducting body.
Rub the glass rod properly with the silk cloth to produce
more charge.
Weight the mass of the balls accurately.
SOURCES OF ERROR: -
The balls may not be of equal size and mass.
The distance between the balls may be measured accurately.
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