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Coulomb's Law:
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Coulomb's Law describes the electrostatic force between two charged particles. It states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force 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 calculator uses Coulomb's Law:
Where:
Explanation: Like charges repel (positive force), unlike charges attract (negative force). The force decreases rapidly with increasing distance.
Details: Understanding electric forces is fundamental to electromagnetism, atomic physics, and electrical engineering. It helps predict interactions between charged particles in various applications.
Tips: Enter charges in coulombs (can be positive or negative), distance in meters. Distance must be greater than zero. The calculator shows both magnitude and direction of the force.
Q1: What is Coulomb's constant?
A: Coulomb's constant (k = 8.99 × 10⁹ N·m²/C²) relates the electrostatic force between charges to their magnitudes and separation distance.
Q2: How does distance affect electric force?
A: Electric force follows an inverse-square law - doubling the distance reduces the force to one-quarter of its original value.
Q3: What are typical charge values?
A: Elementary charge is 1.6 × 10⁻¹⁹ C. Most practical charges range from microcoulombs (10⁻⁶ C) to millicoulombs (10⁻³ C).
Q4: Does the calculator work for point charges only?
A: Yes, Coulomb's Law applies precisely to point charges. For extended charged objects, integration or other methods are needed.
Q5: How is force direction determined?
A: Like charges (both positive or both negative) produce repulsive forces, while unlike charges produce attractive forces.