Coulomb’s law

The force between two charged particles Q1, Q2 separated by distance r is given by Coulomb’s law
Q 1 Q2 Q1 Q2
F= 2
=k 2
4 π ε0 r r
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/coulombs-law
Example:
1. Calculate the electric force between Q1= 5mC and Q2 = - 6 µC if the separation distance between
them is 1 Å .

2. If the electric force between an electron and an unknown charge is 5 N, find the magnitude of the
unknow charge if it’s separated from the electron by a distance of 3 m.

3. in a hydrogen atom find the separation between the electron and proton if the force of attraction
between them 1 x 10-7 N.

Everyday levitation
All materials are made of atoms, the outer layer of an atom is believed to be electrons.
So, when objects contact, these electron layers will repel each other. So, we can’t really touch
anything. This repulsion is believed to be the cause of many contact forces such as friction and
normal force.
For example, we will attempt to calculate the height at which a man levitates.
Man weight = 800 N
Each shoe supports 400 N
Shoe surface area 10 cm by 30 cm
A shoe= 0.03 m2.
How many atoms are contained in this area?
Assume that the cross-sectional area of an atom is given by πr2,
Average diameter of an atom is 1.2 x 10-10m
A atom = 1.13x10-20 m2.
A shoe 0.03 18
So, the number of atoms in bottom surface of shoe = = =2.65 ×10
A atom 1.13 ×10 −20

400
Force supported by each atom = F atom= 18
=1.51× 10−16 N
2.65 ×10
Assume that the atom has 4 electrons facing the surface; the force per electron is given by:

F atom
F electron= =3.77 ×10−17 N
4
Finally, we can use this value to calculate the levitation height.
Practical skills
Verifying Coulomb’s law

1
Using vector analysis, and measuring how d varies by changing r, we can plot vs d to prove that
r2
the relationship is linear to prove the existence of an inverse square law, and thus proving coulomb
law.
Checkpoint.