Coulomb’s Law

1. In Coulomb’s law, what is the relationship between

a. Force and charge?

b. Force and distance between charges?

2. How much does the electrical force between a pair of charged bodies diminish when the
separation is
a. Doubled?

b. Tripled?

3. The most common isotope of hydrogen contains a proton and an electron separated by about
5.1E-11m. The mass of a proton is approximately 1.67E-27 kg. The mass of the electron is
approximately 9.11E-31 kg.

a. Use Newton’s law of universal gravitation to calculate the force between the electron
and proton in the hydrogen atom.

b. Determine the electrical force of attraction between the two particles.

c. How many orders of magnitude greater is the electrical force than is the gravitational
force? How important are the gravitational force effects in this case?

4. Two charged spheres are on a frictionless horizontal surface a distance of 4 mm away.

Sphere A has a +3.0E-6C charge and sphere B has a +6.0E-6 C charge. Sketch the two
spheres showing the forces on them.
a. Calculate the force sphere A experiences.

b. Calculate the force sphere B experiences.

5. Two positive charges of 6.0E-6 C are separated by 0.50 m. What force exists between the
charges? Is it repulsion or attraction?

6. A negative charge of 2.0E-4 C and a negative charge of 8.0E-4 C are separated by 0.30 m.
What force exists between the charges? Is it repulsion or attraction?

7. A young man accumulates a charge of +2.0E-5 C while sliding out of the front seat of his
car. His girlfriend who had been waiting in the wind, has gained electrons and now has a
charge of –8.0 E-5 C.
a. Determine the magnitude and direction of the electrical force that each person exerts
on the other when they are 6.0 m apart.

b. If they now move toward each other and the separation is reduced by a factor of
four, calculate the magnitude of the electrical force.

8. Two pith balls shown in the diagram each have a mass of 1.0 gram and each have equal
charge. One is suspended by an insulated thread. The other charge is brought to within
3.0cm of the suspended ball. The suspended pith ball is deflected from its rest position until
the thread forms a 30 angle with the vertical. At this angle, the ball is in equilibrium.
a. Draw a force diagram of the suspended pith ball.
b. Calculate the charge on each pith ball.

30

0.03m
9. Three point charges lie along the X-axis. Determine the magnitude and direction of the
electrostatic force on q1. (q1 = +3.0E-6C, q2= -4.0E-6C, q3 = -7.0E-6C)

q2 q1 q3

0.20m 0.15m

10. Three charges are fixed on the XY axis. Determine the magnitude and direction of the net
electrostatic force on q1.

q3 = +1.8E-5 C

3m
q2 = -1.2E-5C q1 = +4.5E-5C

3m