COULOMB’S

LAW
Coulomb’s Law
Charles Augustin de Coulomb
• Studied the interaction forces of charged particles in
1784
• Observed that for point charges, the electric force is
proportional to 1/r2.
• The force also depends on the quantity of charge q
or Q. It is proportional to the product of the two
charge.
Coulomb’s Law
• 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.
Coulomb’s Law

• q1 = quantity charge of one particle

• q2 = quantity charge of other particle
• r = distance between the charged particles
• k = proportionality constant (8.99 x 109 N m2/C2)
Coulomb’s Law
•The directions of the
forces the two charges
exert on each other are
always along the line
joining them.
Coulomb’s Law
1
𝑘=
4𝜋𝜖0
•𝜖0 = 8.854 x 10 C /(Nm )
-12 2 2

•The most fundamental unit of charge is the

magnitude of the charge of an electron or a
proton, denoted by 𝑒
𝑒 = 1.60217653 x 10-12 C
Coulomb’s Law
Conversion units for coulombs
•Microcoulomb (1 𝜇𝐶 = 10 𝐶)−6
−9
•Nanocoulomb (1 𝑛𝐶 = 10 𝐶)
•Find the electric force (F) for each of the
following configuration:
a) q1 = q2 = +1.0 C, r = 1.0 m
b) q1 = +1.0 C, q2 = -1.0 C, r = 1.0 m
Quiz Number 1
1. A point charge q1 = 2.0 μC is located on
the positive y axis at y = 0.30 m, and an
identical charge q2 is at the origin. Find the
magnitude and direction of the total force
that these two charges exert on a third
charge q3 = 4.0 μC that is on the positive x
axis at x = 0.40 m.