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Coulomb's Law:
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Coulomb's Law describes the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
The calculator uses Coulomb's Law formula:
Where:
Explanation: The force is attractive if charges have opposite signs and repulsive if charges have the same sign. The calculator uses absolute values for magnitude calculation.
Details: Understanding electric forces is fundamental in electromagnetism, electronics, atomic physics, and many engineering applications. It helps predict interactions between charged particles in various systems.
Tips: Enter all values in SI units. Coulomb's constant is pre-filled with standard value. Distance must be greater than zero. Charges can be positive or negative, but force magnitude is always positive.
Q1: What is Coulomb's constant value?
A: The standard value is approximately 8.98755×10⁹ N·m²/C², which equals 1/(4πε₀) where ε₀ is the vacuum permittivity.
Q2: Does the calculator consider charge signs?
A: The calculator computes force magnitude. For direction, remember: like charges repel, opposite charges attract.
Q3: What are typical charge values?
A: Elementary charge is 1.602×10⁻¹⁹ C. Most practical charges are multiples of this value.
Q4: Is this valid for all distances?
A: Coulomb's Law applies to point charges in vacuum. For very small distances (atomic scale), quantum effects become significant.
Q5: How does medium affect the force?
A: In dielectric materials, the force is reduced by the dielectric constant (κ) of the medium: F_medium = F_vacuum / κ.