Coulomb’s Law

of it so that it will be attracted to the charged object. Some molecules, like water, are polar in that they have a partial positive charge on the hydrogen molecule and a partial negative charge on the oxygen molecule. These molecules are said to have a separation of charge.

COULOMB’S LAW

While we have been studying electrostatic forces, the existence of two charges, the attraction of charges and repulsion of charges, and the decrease in force with distance, we haven’t covered whether there is a mathematical formula for these phenomena or not. This, as it turns out, can be identified through Coulomb’s law. Coulomb’s law indicates the relationship between the magnitude of the force between two point charges separated by distance r. Figure 107 describes this relationship:

Figure 107.

What this means is that the electrostatic force will be a vector quantity that is expressed in Newtons. The direction of the force will be along the line that joins the two charges. It will apply to attractive forces and repulsive forces. According to this equation, the electrostatic force between two subatomic particles is far greater than the gravitational force between two particles.