Coulomb's Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR PDF Download

What is Coulomb’s Law?

According to Coulomb’s law, the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged bodies is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. It acts along the line joining the two charges considered to be point charges.

Coulomb`s Law FormulaCoulomb's Law Formula

History of Coulomb’s Law

A French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb in 1785 coined a tangible relationship in mathematical form between two bodies that have been electrically charged. He published an equation for the force causing the bodies to attract or repel each other which is known as Coulomb’s law or Coulomb’s inverse-square law.

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Vector Form of

Coulomb’s Law

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSRHere F12 is the force exerted by q1 on q2 and F21 is the force exerted by q2 on q1.
Coulomb’s law holds for stationary charges only which are point sized. This law obeys Newton’s third law
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Force on a charged particle due to a number of point charges is the resultant of forces due to individual point charges i.e.

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

What is 1 Coulomb of Charge?

A coulomb is that charge which repels an equal charge of the same sign with a force of 9 × 109 N, when the charges are one meter apart in a vacuum. Coulomb force is the conservative mutual and internal force.
The value of εo is 8.86 × 10-12 C2/Nm2 (or) 8.86 × 10-12 Fm–1

Note: Coulomb force is true only for static charges.

Conditions for Stability

If q is slightly displaced towards A, FA increases in magnitude while FB decreases in magnitude. Now the net force on q is toward A so it will not return to its original position. So for axial displacement, the equilibrium is unstable.
If q is displaced perpendicular to AB, the force FA and FB bring the charge to its original position. So for perpendicular displacement, the equilibrium is stable.


Limitations of Coulomb’s Law

  • The law is applicable only for the point charges at rest.
  • Coulomb’s Law can be only applied in those cases where the inverse square law is obeyed.
  • It is difficult to implement Coulomb’s law where charges are in arbitrary shape because in such cases we cannot determine the distance’ between the charges.
  • The law can’t be used directly to calculate the charge on the big planets.

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

  • For air K = 1
  • For metals K = infinity

The force between 2 charges depends upon the nature of the intervening medium, whereas gravitational force is independent of the intervening medium.
For air or vacuum, Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR since for air or vacuum, εr = K = 1
The value of Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR is equal to 9 × 109 Nm2/C2.

Application of The Coulombs Law

  • To calculate the distance and force between the two charges.
  • The electric field can be calculated using the coulombs law

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Where E = Strength of the electric field
F = Electrostatic force
QT = Test charge in coulombs

  • To calculate the force on one point due to the presence of several points (Theorem of superposition).


Key Points on Coulomb’s Law

1. If the force between two charges in two different media is the same for different separations, Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR = constant.

2. Kr2 = constant or K1r12 = K2r2

3. If the force between two charges separated by a distance ‘r0’ in a vacuum is the same as the force between the same charges separated by a distance ‘r’ in a medium, then from Coulomb’s Law; Kr2 = r02

4. Two identical conductors having charges q1 and q2 are put to contact and then separated after which each will have a charge equal to q1 + q2/2. If the charges are q1 and – q2, then each will have a charge equal to q1 - q2/2.

5. Two spherical conductors having charges q1 and q2 and radii r1 and r2 are put to contact and then separated the charges of the conductors after contact is;
q1 = [r1/(r1 + r2)] (q1 + q2) and q2 = [r2/(r1 + r2)] (q1 + q2)

6. If the force of attraction or repulsion between two identical conductors having charges q1 and q2 when separated by a distance d is F. Also if they are put to contact and then separated by the same distance the new force between them is
 Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

7. If charges are q1 and -q2 then, F = F(q1 + q2)2 / 4q1q2

8. Between two electrons separated by a certain distance: Electrical force/Gravitational force = 1042

9. Between two protons separated by a certain distance: Electrical force/Gravitational force = 1036

10. Between a proton and an electron separated by a certain distance: Electrical force/Gravitational force = 1039

11. The relationship between the velocity of light, the permeability of free space and permittivity of free space is given by the expression c = 1 / √ (μoεo)

12. If Coulomb’s law is applied to two identical balls of mass m are hung by silk thread of length ‘l’ from the same hook and carry similar charges q then;

  • The distance between balls = Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
  • The tension in the thread = Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
  • If the total system is kept in space then the angle between threads is 180° and tension in a thread is given by Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
  • A charge Q is divided into q and (Q – q). Then electrostatic force between them is maximum when
     Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Solved Examples on Coulomb's Law

Example 1: Charges of magnitude 100 microcoulomb each are located in vacuum at the corners A, B and C of an equilateral triangle measuring 4 meters on each side. If the charge at A and C are positive and the charge B negative, what is the magnitude and direction of the total force on the charge at C?

The situation is shown in fig. Let us consider the forces acting on C due to A and B.
Now, from Coulomb’s law, the force of repulsion on C due to A i.e., FCA in direction AC is given by
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
The force of attraction on C due to B i.e., FCB in direction CB is given by
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Thus the two forces are equal in magnitude. The angle between them is 120º. The resultant force F is given by
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
This force is parallel to AB.


Example 2: The negative point charges of unit magnitude and a positive point charge q are placed along the straight line. At what position and for what value of q will the system be in equilibrium? Check whether it is stable, unstable or neutral equilibrium.

The two negative charges A and B of unit magnitude are shown in fig. Let the positive charge q be at a distance rA from A and at a distance rB from B.
Now, from coulombs law, Force on q due to A
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

Force on q due to B
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
These two forces acting on q are opposite and collinear. For the equilibrium of q, the two forces must also be equal i.e.
|FqA| = |FqB|
or
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR Hence rA = rB
So for the equilibrium of q, it must be equidistant from A & B i.e. at the middle of AB Now for the equilibrium of the system, A and B must be in equilibrium. For the equilibrium of A
Force on A by q = Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR towards q
Force on A by B = Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR away from q
The two forces are opposite and collinear. For equilibrium the forces must be equal, opposite and collinear. Hence
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
or q = 1/4 in magnitude of either charge.
It can also be shown that for the equilibrium of B, the magnitude of q must be 1/4 of the magnitude of either charge.


Example 3: A positive charge of 6 × 10-6 C is 0.040m from the second positive charge of 4 × 10-6 C. Calculate the force between the charges.
Given
q1 =  6 × 10-6 C
q2 = 4 × 10-6 C
r = 0.040 m

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Fe = 134.85 N


Example 4: Two-point charges, q1 = +9 μC and q2 = 4 μC, are separated by a distance r = 12 cm. What is the magnitude of the electric force?
given
k = 8.988 x 109 Nm2C−2
q1 = 9 ×10-6 C
q2 = 4 ×10-6 C

Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Coulomb`s Law | Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR
Fe = 22.475 N

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FAQs on Coulomb's Law - Physics for Airmen Group X - Airforce X Y / Indian Navy SSR

1. What is Coulomb's Law?
Ans. Coulomb's Law is a fundamental principle in physics that describes the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It states that the force between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
2. What is the formula for Coulomb's Law?
Ans. The formula for Coulomb's Law is given as F = k * (q1 * q2) / r^2, where F is the electrostatic force between two charges, q1 and q2 are the magnitudes of the charges, r is the distance between the charges, and k is the Coulomb's constant.
3. What is the significance of Coulomb's constant in Coulomb's Law?
Ans. Coulomb's constant (k) is a proportionality constant in Coulomb's Law that determines the strength of the electrostatic force between charged particles. Its value is approximately 8.99 × 10^9 N m^2/C^2. The magnitude of the force between charges directly depends on the value of Coulomb's constant.
4. How does Coulomb's Law explain the behavior of charged particles?
Ans. Coulomb's Law explains that like charges repel each other, while opposite charges attract each other. It quantitatively describes the force experienced by charged particles based on their charge magnitudes and the distance between them. This law helps in understanding the behavior of charged particles in various phenomena, such as electrical circuits and electromagnetic interactions.
5. What are the limitations of Coulomb's Law?
Ans. Coulomb's Law assumes that the charges involved are point charges and do not take into account the size or distribution of the charges. It also assumes that the charges are at rest or moving at a constant velocity. Additionally, Coulomb's Law does not hold true at extremely small distances (subatomic scale) or at extremely high velocities (relativistic effects).
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