D2L-PHYexp1

Coulomb’s Law Professor Dhiraj Maheswari January 27 th , 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to learn and practice the concept of Coulomb’s law using an online simulation. The purpose of Coulomb’s law, originally published in 1785, is to predict the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two forces. Coulomb’s law uses measure values of charge, distance, and coulomb’s constant to measure the magnitude of the electrostatic force. Introduction The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two charges is proportional to the product of the magnitude of the two charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them squared. Coulomb’s law mirrors Newton’s law of gravitation. The force of gravity between two mass is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the distance squared. Just as with gravitational force, electric force magnitude increases with the magnitude of the charges. It is important to note that charges that are the same will repel each other, meaning two positive charges or two negative charges repel one another. Opposite charges, a negative and a positive charge, however, attract.

( μC ) ( N ) ( N ) toward each other) 2 8 4 89.876 89.876 away 4 8 4 179.751 179.751 away 6 8 4 269.627 269.627 away 8 8 4 359.502 359.502 away 10 8 4 449.378 449.378 away TABLE 2: Changing Charge 2 Charge 1 ( μC ) Charge 2 (value to set on slidebar) ( μC ) Distance between charges (cm) Force (of 1 on 2) ( N ) Force (of 2 on 1) ( N ) Arrow direction (away or toward each other) -3 2 5 21.570 21.570 toward -3 4 5 43.140 43.140 toward -3 6 5 64.710 64.710 toward -3 8 5 86.280 86.280 toward -3 10 5 107.851 107.851 toward

TABLE 3: Changing the Distance Charge 1 ( μC ) Charge 2 (value to set on slidebar) ( μC ) Distance between charges ( cm ) Force (of 1 on 2) ( N ) Force (of 2 on 1) ( N ) Arrow direction (away or toward each other) 9 -7 2 1415.539 1415.539 toward 9 -7 4 353.885 353.885 toward 9 -7 6 157.282 157.282 toward 9 -7 8 88.471 88.471 toward 9 -7 10 56.622 56.622 toward

From the simulation, it has been proven that although the charge affects the direction of the force, magnitude remains the same. Like charges repel and opposite charges attract. The magnitude of the force is proportional to the magnitude of the forces absolute values. As proven by the first vernier graph, when charges and distance both remain constant, as will force. Illustrated by the second graph, if charges remain constant and distance increases, force will decrease. The PhET simulation gives a very appropriate visual and activity for understanding Coulomb’s Law.