Solved Exercises on Coulomb's Law

1.- A charge of 3×10^-6 C is located 2 m from a charge of -8×10^-6 C, what is the

magnitude of the attractive force between the charges?

Solution: To solve the exercise, we need to obtain the data to be able to

resolve it directly, since we have everything we need.

Applying Coulomb's law formula

We replace

We have multiplied the electric charges, remember that the exponents are added. and we have
squared the distance that separates them, now we continue with the operations.

We multiply and obtain:

We see that there is a negative sign, for now it is not useful for us to interpret the sign, since the
The problem asks us for the magnitude of the force, this means that we will take the force
as an absolute value, which would be our result.

A charge of -5×10^-7 C exerts a force of 0.237 N on another charge at a distance of

3.5 meters, what is the value of the second load?
 Solution: In this case, we have a different unknown than in the first exercise, since
now we are asked to find the value of the second charge, we will do this by solving in our
formula, assuming the following:

We will clear the first formula to obtain

Now we are going to replace our data.

What would be the value of the second charge in order to meet the proposed data?
problem.

Let's now look at another example, in this case our unknown will be the distance.

3.- Two charges of 2.8×10^-6 C and 7.5×10^-6 C respectively attract each other with a force of
10N, what distance apart are they?

Solution: The problem is easy to solve, now let's look at the data we have:
 ?

Now we will have to clear, once again, Coulomb's law formula.

Now we have to replace our data

Therefore, our result is 0.1374 meters of distance between the charges, for a
effect of 10 Newtons.

As you can see, it's not difficult, we just need to establish our data and
resolver... If you have clearing problems, what is the most common, I will soon write an article.
video, explaining step by step how to clear formulas so that you avoid having that kind of
awkward situations and not being able to reach a result.
1.2. Coulomb's Law

We already know the composition of matter, its molecules and the smallest part, the
atom: The nucleus composed of protons (Positive charge) and neutrons, and around the
same, orbiting, the electrons (negative charge). Being charges of different signs, they attract each other.
and the electrons maintain their orbits due to those repulsive forces, spinning
about the same nucleus. But do you know that those forces can be measured? Yes, with a simple
law, Coulomb's Law. Let's see how.

Image 2. Charles Augustin de Coulomb

Source:WikipediaLicense: Public domain

COULOMB'S LAW

The force F of reciprocal action between point charges is directly proportional to

product of the electric charges (Q and Q') and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance that separates them (d).
In the International System of Units (SI) and in a vacuum, the units would be
following:

K is the Coulomb constant and its value is expressed in terms of another constant ξ0.
what is called the permittivity of vacuum

Where from08.85 . 10-12C2/N.m2, although for most calculations we can take

an approximate value of
K = 9 . 109N.m2/C2

Charges Q and Q' in C (Coulombs). One Coulomb is the value of a charge such that
repels another one placed one meter away with a force of 9.109N.

Distance d in m. (meters)

Consequently, the force F will be measured in N (Newton).

In other media, permittivity changes. Permittivity is usually given in relation to that of

vacuum, referred to as relative permittivity εrThe absolute permittivity is obtained
multiplying the relative by that of the vacuum, ε = εr*ε0
Thus, the relative permittivity of air is 8.84, its absolute permittivity will be
ε=8.84*8.85 . 10-12C2/N.m2,

From the above, we can deduce that Coulomb's Law can be expressed:
 Image 3. Coulomb's Law for 2 charges of the same sign
Source:WikipediaLicense: Creative Commons

Exercise 1

Determine the force acting on the electric charges Q1 = + 1 x 10-6 C and Q2 = + 2.5
x 10^-6 C. which are at rest and in a vacuum at a distance of 5 cm.

to calculate the interaction force between two point electric charges we will use the
Coulomb's law and we will also convert the units to the international system:

Since the answer obtained is positive, it indicates that the force is

repulsion. The repulsive force has a magnitude of 9 N and graphically:
Exercise 2

Determine the force acting on the electric charges q1 = -1.25 x 10^-9 C and q2 = +2 x
10-5 C. that are at rest and in a vacuum at a distance of 10 cm.

To calculate the interaction force between two stationary point electric charges.
we will use Coulomb's law, converting the units to the international system:

Since the obtained response is negative, it indicates that the force is

attraction. The force of attraction has a magnitude of 2.25 x 10-2N. and graphically:
Exercise 3

Let's assume a segment AB of 1.00 m in length on which two charges are fixed.
Sobre el punto A tenemos la carga q1 =+4 x 10-6C. y sobre el punto B situamos la carga
q2 = +1 x 10^-6 C.

a) determine the position of a third charge q=+2 x10-6C. placed on the segment
So that it remains in equilibrium under the simultaneous action of the two given charges.
b) Does the position of q depend on its value and sign?

To determine the position of the load, we must assume that the total force acting on it is
zero, that is to say that the interaction between the load1qyq2they must be forces of equal magnitude
and opposite senses.

For the sum of opposing forces to be zero, their magnitudes must be equal.
The distance between the charges has been called1and as the total distance between1yq2
it is 1 m. the distance between the charges2it is the difference between 1 m. and d.(1-d) for the
so much

Solving the second-degree equation leaves us with

Obtaining the distance to the other charge will be very simple: 1 - 0.67 = 0.33 m.
The placement of q does not depend on its value or its sign.

It can be verified that q does not intervene in the calculation of d.

Regarding the sign, whether it is positive or negative, results in that the

vectors that act on it are always opposite, as both will be repulsive or of
attraction, respectively.