COULOMB’S LAW PhET LAB SIMULATION GUIDED QUESTIONS

Directions:
TYPE ALL of YOUR ANSWERS IN A DIFFERENT COLOR (not black!)
PART 1: DATA COLLECTION
Go to this link: Coulombs Law PhET Lab

If the simulation does not automatically load, you have to allow flash (go to the little padlock icon in
the left corner of the web address bar and go into Site Setting and find Flash and change from ‘block’
to ‘allow’). Once you are in the simulation, which looks like the image below, follow the instructions
as you go through each question in order to work your way through the simulation and answer the
questions.

1. Identify the three variables in the simulation...remember, variables are things that
can be changed or tested. There are 3 things in the simulation that can be changed
directly or indirectly…..
Fill in the blank, highlight one choice:

a. Variable 1 is and it is : (Independent OR Dependent)

b. Variable 2 is and it is: (Independent OR Dependent)

c. Variable 3 is and it is: (Independent OR Dependent)

2. a. Which variable(s) do you change to increase force? (list them)

1.- la distancia
2.- la carga del punto
 b. What do you do to the variable(s) listed above to increase the force? (describe
what you change to make the force go up) decrease distance and/or increase
charge

3. a. Which variable(s) do you change to decrease force? (list them)

b. What do you do to the variable(s) listed above to decrease the force? (describe
what you change to make the force go down)

4. Based on your answers in #2 and #3, go back to #1 and double check that you still
agree with how you answered #1. Fix your answers if you think you need to.

5. Now, in the simulation, you want to set up the charge values and the distance
between them as shown in the tables below. Obtain the force values from the screen
and fill them into the table below:
Tip: click on the ruler and drag it up into the center of the red and blue “charges” so that you
can line up the dashed lines more precisely with the ruler numbers. UNCHECK Scientific
Notation

Record answers rounded to tenths place (Example: 2.3 or 65.9 or 125.1)

TABLE 1: Changing Charge 1
Charge 2 Arrow
Distance
Force Force direction
Charge 1 (value to set between (of 1 on 2) (of 2 on 1) (away or
( μC ) on slidebar) charges (N) (N) toward each
( μC ) (cm)
other)
2 8 3 159.779 159.779
4 8 3 319.557 319.557
6 8 3 479.336 479.336
8 8 3 639.115 639.115
10 8 3 798.893 798.893

TABLE 2: Changing Charge 2

Charge 1 Charge 2 Distance Force Force Arrow
( μC ) (value to set between (of 1 on 2) (of 2 on 1) direction
on slidebar) charges (N) (N) (away or
 toward each
( μC ) (cm)
other)
-3 2 3 59.917 59.917
-3 4 3 119.834 119.834
-3 6 3 179.751 179.751
-3 8 3 239.668 239.668
-3 10 3 299.585 299.585

TABLE 3: Changing the Distance

Charge 2 Distance Arrow
Force Force direction
Charge 1 (value to set between (of 1 on 2) (of 2 on 1) (away or
( μC ) on slidebar) charges
(N) (N) toward each
( μC ) ( cm )
other)
33.6 -6 2 808.880 808.880
6 -6 4 202.220 202.220
6 -6 6 92.948 92.948
6 -6 8 51.843 51.843
6 -6 10 33.012 33.012

Summarize:
1. Determine whether each statement is true or false.
_______ a. The electric force increases as objects move closer together. V
_______ b. The electric force increases as an object’s charge increases. V
_______ c. If two objects have different charges, the object with the greater charge, pulls
with a greater force. F

2. Electric force is a force of attraction or repulsion between objects based on their charges
and their distance apart.
A. When is the electric force attractive?
Cuando las Cargas son diferentes tiene fuerza atractiva

B. When is the electric force repulsive?

Cuando las Cargas son iguales tiene fuerza repulsiva

PART 2: DATA ANALYSIS

1. TABLE 1 DATA ANALYSIS:
● Open the google sheet that is also posted in this Google Classroom assignment. Open
the Google Doc from Assignment 4 from last week and copy and paste your force (of
1 on 2) values from Table 1 of this document into the yellow force value column in
the spreadsheet.

a. Graph 1 is a separate tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Click on “Graph 1” tab and
copy and paste the graph into the space below:
GRAPH 1:
 b. Is the line straight or does it have a definite curve?

c. What does this mean about the relation between charge and force? BE
SPECIFIC...remember, you need to describe the change in one variable as the other
variable also changes. An example of how to describe a relation between two
variables is: “As the temperature increases, the melting increases. The line is
straight, so the melting is increasing at a constant rate.”
Describe the relation shown on your graph here:

d. Pick two points ON THE LINE for which you can easily determine x and y values.
Write the points here in (x,y) form:

(x , y) ( x , y)

e. Write the slope here and INCLUDE units of measurement for both the rise and the
run values! What does the slope mean? (describe the relationship that it quantifies)

2. TABLE 2 DATA ANALYSIS:

● Open the google sheet that is also posted in this Google Classroom assignment. Copy
and paste your force (of 1 on 2) values from Table 2 of this document into the blue
force value column in the spreadsheet.

a. Graph 1 is a separate tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Click on “Graph 1” tab and
copy and paste the graph into the space below:
GRAPH 2 :

b. Is the line straight, or does it have a definite curve?

c. What does this mean about the relation between charge and force? Describe the
relation shown on your graph here:

d. Pick two points ON THE LINE for which you can easily determine x and y values.
Write the points here in (x,y) form:
 e. Using any method you are comfortable with, determine the slope of the line.
Write the slope here and INCLUDE units of measurement for both the rise and the
run values! What does the slope mean? (describe the relation that it quantifies)

3. TABLE 3 DATA ANALYSIS:

● Open the google sheet that is also posted in this Google Classroom assignment. Copy
and paste your force (of 1 on 2) values from Table 1 of this document into the purple
force value column in the spreadsheet.

a. Go to the “Graph 3” tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. COPY AND PASTE
GRAPH 3 here:
b. Is the line straight (or very close to straight), or does it have a definite curve?

c. What does this mean about the relationship between distance and force? BE
SPECIFIC…

4. In the spreadsheet, click on the Graph 4 tab. COPY AND PASTE GRAPH 4 into the
space below:

a. What is plotted on the x axis?

b. What is plotted on the y axis?
c. Which axis has the ‘inverse’ variable plotted on it?
d. Is the line straight?
e. Does the line pass through (0,0) as best as you can tell?
f. Does this mean the relation is proportional?
g. In a full sentence, describe the relationship shown on GRAPH 4, using the words
proportional and inverse in the sentence.

h. What are two other topics that we have learned about this year that also demonstrate
the same relationship with 1/distance squared (inverse of distance squared)?

5. Coulomb’s Law states: that like charges repel and opposite charges attract, with a force
proportional to the charges and a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance between
them.

NOTE: The different colors in the sentence are there to separate the sentence into different
parts, but these colors DO NOT NECESSARILY have anything to do with the colors in the
spreadsheet. HOWEVER….I want YOU to take each color coded portion of the sentence
above and match it up with a Table or a Graph from Assignment 4 (last week) and this
assignment that supports (proves) this portion of Coulomb’s Law. For instance, if you think
that the idea that “like charges repel” is supported by what is shown in Graph 4, then you
would write Graph 4 in the table below (this is not correct, however!). Then, you need to
explain why you chose that graph in the last column of the table.

Choices to use as answers in the table below: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Graph 1, Graph 2,
Graph 3, Graph 4
portion of Coulomb’s graph(s) or table(s) that help show Reasoning for choosing this
law: or prove this portion of the law: graph or table as evidence:

like charges repel (Hint: not shown in a graph)

opposite charges (Hint: not shown in a graph)

attract

a force proportional to Hint: shown in 2 graphs

the charges

a force inversely Hint: shown in 1 graph

proportional to the
square of the distance
between them.
 Let’s try to use the equation for Coulomb’s
Law to calculate a couple of the force values
we obtained from the simulation.
Coulomb’s Law Equation:
k= Coulomb’s
Constant= 9.0x109
q1= charge on
mass 1 in Coulombs
q2= charge on
mass 2 in Coulombs
r= the distance
between the two charges in
meters
F= the electrical
force between the two
charges in Newtons
SO, in Table 1, our values for the first row of
data are:
q1= 2μC q2= 10μC k= 9.0 x109
r= 3 cm

6. NOW YOU calculate the correct values for q1, q2, and r from the second row of data in
Table 1 and plug the values into the equation to solve for the Force.

Table 1, row 2 values:

q1=4uC q2=10uC r=3cm

a. What are these values converted into the correct units of measurement?

q1=________C q2=_______C r=_______m k=9.0x109

b. Plug the correct values into the parentheses above and calculate the force. Note:
You should get something very close to the Force value you recorded in the second
row of Table 1 from the simulation. If you didn’t, you may have a calculator
operation error or the values you are using are not correct. (Ignore the broken
underline!!!...it means DIVIDE the top by the bottom!!)

F= (9.0 x109) ( )( ) =
( )
c. Do the math to calculate the force from TABLE 2, row 1, in the space below. The
values from TABLE 2, row 1 are:
q1= -5uC q2=2uC r=3cm and k=9.0x109

What are the converted values in proper units of measurement?

q1=____C q2=____C r=____ m

Plug values into Coulomb’s Law equation (type it out in the space below, and solve
for force). You should get a value for the force that is VERY close to what you got in
row 1 of Table 2! Ignore the negative sign (for now)!

Show equation work here:

d. What other equation have we used this year in a different unit that is VERY similar to
this equation??