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Coulomb's inverse-square law, or simply Coulomb's law, is an experimental law [1] of physics that calculates the amount of force between two electrically charged particles at rest. This electric force is conventionally called the electrostatic force or Coulomb force . [ 2 ]
When talking about electrostatic potential energy, time-invariant electric fields are always assumed so, in this case, the electric field is conservative and Coulomb's law can be used. Using Coulomb's law, it is known that the electrostatic force F and the electric field E created by a discrete point charge Q are radially directed from Q.
Several features about Maxwell's equations in the Coulomb gauge are as follows. Firstly, solving for the electric potential is very easy, as the equation is a version of Poisson's equation. Secondly, solving for the magnetic vector potential is particularly difficult. This is the big disadvantage of this gauge.
Euler's three-body problem is to describe the motion of a particle under the influence of two centers that attract the particle with central forces that decrease with distance as an inverse-square law, such as Newtonian gravity or Coulomb's law. Examples of Euler's problem include an electron moving in the electric field of two nuclei, such as ...
In the Coulomb gauge, the electric potential is given by Poisson's equation = just like in electrostatics. However, in the Lorenz gauge, the electric potential is a retarded potential that propagates at the speed of light and is the solution to an inhomogeneous wave equation:
The Coulomb barrier is a type of potential energy barrier, and is central to nuclear fusion. It results from the interplay of two fundamental interactions: the strong interaction at close-range within ≈ 1 femtometre (fm), and the electromagnetic interaction at far-range beyond the Coulomb barrier.
Similarly, the Newtonian gravitation law is a low-mass approximation of general relativity, and Coulomb's law is an approximation to quantum electrodynamics at large distances (compared to the range of weak interactions). In such cases it is common to use the simpler, approximate versions of the laws, instead of the more accurate general laws.
For example, a naive quantum mechanical calculation of the ground-state energy density yields infinity, which is unreasonable. The difficulty lies in the fact that even though the Coulomb force diminishes with distance as 1/r 2, the average number of particles at each distance r is proportional to r 2, assuming the fluid is fairly isotropic. As ...