GENERAL PHYSICS 2

COULOMB’S LAW

CHARLES AGUSTIN DE COULOMB

- In 1784, a French physicist, discovered the
nature of these electrical forces exerted by
bodies upon one another
- He used a torsion balance
- He found that the electric force is
2
proportional to 1/𝑟 . That is, when the
distance is doubled, the force decreases to ¼
of its initial value; when the distance is
halved, the force increases to 4 times its
initial value

COULOMB’S LAW
States that:
“The magnitude of the electric force between two
point charges is directly proportional to the product
of the charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them.”

The closer is the field point from the source charge,

the stronger is the field strength.

|𝑞1𝑞2|
𝐹 = 𝑘 2
𝑟
Where:
9 2 2
k = Coulomb’s Constant = 9 × 10 𝑁𝑚 /𝐶
𝑞1= Point Charge -1
𝑞2= Point Charge -2
r = the distance between the two charges