Laboratory Activity 2

Coulomb’s Law

Name: Lawrence H. Salvador Date: March 7, 2023

Section: 1-BSEcE-A

I. Objectives
1. To identify factors affecting the strength of the electric force on a charged object.
2. To solve the coulomb constant from data.

II. Procedure

Simulation Link: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/coulombs-law/latest/coulombs-law_en.html

A. Varying Charge

1. In the simulation, click on macro scale.

2. Set charge 1 to any positive value of your choice.
3. Set the distance between the two charges to 4 cm. This distance should be measured from the center
of the charges.
4. Now set charge 2 to � ��. Put the value of the electric force on Table 1.
5. Repeat step 4 for charge 2 equal to � ��, � ��, � ��, �� ��
Charge 1: 6μC
Choose any positive value

Table 1. Electric force with varying charge 2

Charge 2 Electric Force

(coulomb) (newtons)
2 × 10−6 67.407N
4 × 10−6 134.813N
6 × 10−6 202.220N
8 × 10−6 269.627N
10 × 10−6 337.033N

6. With the data you gathered, plot an Electric Force vs Charge 2 graph. Attach your graph below.
 B. Varying distance

7. Set charge 2 to 10 ��. Keep charge 1 to the value you chose in part A.
8. Set the distance between the charges to 5 cm. Get the value of the electric force on Table 2
9. Repeat step 8 for a distance of 6 cm, 7 cm, 8 cm and 9 cm
10. Solve for the distance squared and for the 1/(distance squared) for each value for distance

Table 2. Electric force with varying distance

Distance r Distance squared r2 1/r2 Electric Force

(meter) (m2 ) (1/m2 ) (newtons)
0.05 �. ������ 400 215.701N
0.06 �. ������ 277.778 149.793N
0.07 �. ������ 204.082 110.052N
0.08 �. ������ 156.25 84.258N
0.09 �. ������ 123.457 66.574N

11. With the data you gathered, plot a Electric Force vs 1/�2 graph. Attach your graph below.
III. Questions
1. What happened to the electric force as you increased the value of charge 2?
As the value of charge 2 increases, the electric force also increases, whereas the distance
between them is constant, so if the charge of one object is doubled, then the force will become
two times greater. This means that the value of charge 2 is directly proportional to the electric
force.

2. What appened to the electric force as you increased the distance between the charges?
The electric force is inversely proportional to the distance between the two charges, which
means that as we increase the distance, it decreases. This indicates that the force's magnitude
varies inversely as the square of distance between the two charges. As a result, when the gap
between two charges is doubled, the attraction or repulsion weakens and drops to one-fourth of
its initial strength.

3. From the slope of the Electric Force vs Charge 2 graph, solve for �. Attach a photo of your solutions
below
��� �� ��
�=
�� ��

��. ���� �. ��� �

�=
� × ��−� � × ��−�

���
� = ���������� �� �. ���� × ���
��

4. From the slope of the Electric Force vs 1/r2 graph, solve for �. Attach a photo of your solutions below

� = �� + �
� = 0.5393x - 0.0004

�
�=�
��

The slope is NOT the value for coulomb’s constant �� . The slope is a combination of coulomb’s
constant along with constant maintained in lab. Because of this, coulomb’s constant can be found by
completing the following

� = � �� ��
To determine coulomb’s constant:
� = � �� ��

�
�=
�� ��

�. ����
�=
(����−� )(�����−�)

��� 9
���
� = ���������� �� � = �. ��������� × 10
�� ��

5. How does your calculated value for � compare to the standard value for coulomb constant?
9
��2
� = 8.987551792314 × 10
�2

 The calculated value for k (the Coulomb's constant) is almost the same as the standard value of k.The
laboratory activity conducted is significant in proving Coulomb's law of charges.