What is Coulomb’s Law?

Coulomb’s law is a mathematical formula that describes the force between two point charges.
When the size of charged bodies is substantially smaller than the separation between them,
then the size is not considered or can be ignored. The charged bodies can be considered point
charges.

“The force of attraction or repulsion between two charged things is directly proportional to
the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between
them, according to Coulomb’s law”. It acts along the line that connects the two charges that
are regarded to be point charges.

History of Coulomb’s Law

Charles Augustin de Coulomb a french mathematician in 1785 first describes a force between
two charged bodies in mathematical equations. He stated that the charge bodies repel or attract
each other accordingly based on their charge, i.e. opposite charge attracts each other and
similar charge repels. He also states the mathematical formula for the force between them,
which is called Columb’s Law.

Coulomb’s Law Formula (Scalar Form)

As we know, the force (F) between two point charges q 1 and q2 separated by a distance r in a
vacuum is,

Proportional to the product of the charges.

F ∝ q 1q2

Inversely Proportional to the square of the distance between them,

F ∝ 1/r2

F ∝ q 1q2 / r2
then,

F = k q 1q2 / r2

where,
k is proportionality constant and equals to 1/4πε0.
Symbol ε0 is permittivity of a vacuum.
Value of k is 9 × 109 Nm2/ C2 {when we take the S.I unit of value of ε 0 is 8.854 × 10-12 C2 N-
1
m-2.}

What is 1 Coulomb of Charge?

Columb is the SI unit of charge. If a charge repels an equal charge of the same sign with a
force of 9×109 N the charge is of 1 Coulomb given so the charges are one meter apart in a
vacuum.

1 coulomb is a bigger unit of charge and is not used in daily life. We use smaller units such as
micro coulomb, etc.

Applications of Coulomb’s Law

Coulomb’s Law is one of the basic laws of Physics. It is used for various purposes, some of its
important applications are discussed below,

 It is used to calculate the distance and force between the two charges.
 It is used to arrange the charges in stable equilibrium.
 Columbus law is used to calculate electric field.

Electric field is given by,

E = F / QT (N/C)

where,
E is the Strength of the electric field
F is the Electrostatic force
QT is the Test charge measured in coulombs

Limitations of Coulomb’s Law

There are some limitations of Coulomb’s Law which are discussed below in the article,

 Coulomb’s Law is applicable for the point charges which are at rest.
 Coulomb’s Law is only applicable in situations where the inverse square law is followed.
 Coulomb’s Law is applicable only for the charges which are considered to be spherical. For
charges with arbitrary shapes, Coulomb’s Law is not applicable because we cannot
determine the distance between the charges.

Electric Field due to Point Charge Due to Point Electric Charges

“Every charge in the universe exerts a force on every other charge in the universe” is a bold yet true
statement of physics. One way to understand the ability of a charge to influence other charges
anywhere in space is by imagining the influence of the charge as a field. Note that this ‘influence’ is
simply the electrostatic force that a charge is able to exert over another. However, when describing
fields, we require a quantity (scalar or vector), that is independent of the charge it is acting on and only
dependent on the influence and the spatial distribution.

So in a simple way we can define the electrostatic field considering the force exerted by a point
charge on a unit charge. In other words, we can define the electric field as the force per unit
charge.

To detect an electric field of a charge q, we can introduce a test charge q 0 and measure the force
acting on it.

1 qq 0
F = 4 πε 2
0 r

Thus the force exerted per unit charge is:

 F 1 q
E= =
q0 4 πε 0 r 2

Note that the electric field is a vector quantity that is defined at every pint in space, the value of
which is dependent only upon the radial distance from q.

The test charge q0 itself has the ability to exert an electric field around it. Hence, to prevent the
influence of the test charge, we must ideally make it as small as possible.

This is the electric field of a point charge. Also, observe that it exhibits spherical symmetry since
the electric field has the same magnitude on every point of an imaginary sphere centred around
the charge q.

Electric Field due to Various Charges

Consider a system of charges q 1, q2,…, qn with position vectors r 1, r2,…, rn with respect to
some origin O. The force experienced by a unit test charge placed at that point, without
altering the original positions of charges q 1, q2,…, qn, is described as the electric field at a point
in space owing to a system of charges, similar to the electric field at a point in space due to a
single charge. To determine this field at a location P represented by position vector r, we can
apply Coulomb’s law and the superposition principle.
Electric field E1 at r due to q1 at r1 can be written as,
1 q1
F = 4 πε 2
0 r1

where r1 is the distance between q 1 and P.

Similarly, electric field E 2 at r due to q2 at r2 can be expressed as,

1 q2
F = 4 πε 2
0 r2

where r2 is the distance between q 2 and P. Similar expressions for fields E 3 , E4, …, En due to
charges q3 , q4 , …, qn . By the superposition principle, the electric field E at r due to the system
of charges can be expressed as,
E = E1 + E2 + E3 + E4+ …………………. En

1 q1 1 q2 1 q3 1 qn
E= 2 + 2 + 2 + ………………………. +
4 πε 0 r 1 4 πε 0 r 2 4 πε 0 r 3 4 πε 0 r 2n

n
1 qi
E = 4 πε ∑ 2
0 i=1 r i