Coulomb's Law (Electric Force) Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: Two small plastic spheres each have a mass of 2.0 g and a charge of -50 nC. They are placed 2.0 cm apart (center to center).a. What is the magnitude of the electric force on each sphere?b. By what factor is the electric force on a sphere larger than its weight?

###### FREE Expert Solution

From Coulomb's law, we get electric force from:

$\overline{){\mathbf{F}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{k}{\mathbf{q}}_{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{q}}_{\mathbf{2}}}{{\mathbf{r}}^{\mathbf{2}}}}$, where F is the electric force, k is Coulomb's constant, r is the distance between the two charges, qand q2 are the charges.

The weight of an object is expressed as:

$\overline{){\mathbf{W}}{\mathbf{=}}{\mathbf{m}}{\mathbf{g}}}$, where m is the mass of an object and is the acceleration due to gravity.

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###### Problem Details

Two small plastic spheres each have a mass of 2.0 g and a charge of -50 nC. They are placed 2.0 cm apart (center to center).
a. What is the magnitude of the electric force on each sphere?
b. By what factor is the electric force on a sphere larger than its weight?

What scientific concept do you need to know in order to solve this problem?

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