Calculating Electric Force Between Charged Objects
How can the electric force between two charged objects be calculated?
Two 1.6 kg masses are 1.5 m apart (center to center) on a frictionless table. Each has 9.6 μC of charge. What is the electric force between them?
Calculation of Electric Force
The electric force between two charged objects can be calculated using Coulomb's Law. For two 1.6 kg masses with 9.6 μC of charge each and a distance of 1.5 m between them, the electric force is approximately 6.86 x 10^-9 N.
The electric force between two charged objects can be calculated using Coulomb's Law, which states that the force is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Using the given information:
Charge of each mass: 9.6 μC
Mass of each object: 1.6 kg
Distance between the objects: 1.5 m
Applying Coulomb's Law:
Electric force = (Charge1 * Charge2) / (4πε0 * distance^2)
where ε0 is the permittivity of free space.
Substituting the given values:
Electric force = (9.6 μC * 9.6 μC) / (4πε0 * 1.5 m^2)
Calculating the value of ε0 as 8.85 x 10^-12 C^2/N·m^2:
Electric force ≈ 6.86 x 10^-9 N
Therefore, the electric force between the two charged objects is approximately 6.86 x 10^-9 N.