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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 ]
where r is the distance between the point charges q and Q, and q and Q are the charges (not the absolute values of the charges—i.e., an electron would have a negative value of charge when placed in the formula). The following outline of proof states the derivation from the definition of electric potential energy and Coulomb's law to this formula.
Ions of opposite charge are naturally attracted to each other by the electrostatic force. [10] [11] This is described by Coulomb's law: = where F is the force of attraction, q 1 and q 2 are the magnitudes of the electrical charges, ε is the dielectric constant of the medium and r is the distance between the ions.
Coulomb's law quantifies the electrostatic force between two particles by asserting that the force is proportional to the product of their charges, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The charge of an antiparticle equals that of the corresponding particle, but with opposite sign.
The charge of the resulting ions is a major factor in the strength of ionic bonding, e.g. a salt C + A − is held together by electrostatic forces roughly four times weaker than C 2+ A 2− according to Coulomb's law, where C and A represent a generic cation and anion respectively. The sizes of the ions and the particular packing of the ...
A Coulomb collision is a binary elastic collision between two charged particles interacting through their own electric field. As with any inverse-square law , the resulting trajectories of the colliding particles is a hyperbolic Keplerian orbit .
Thus, the electric field is a complete representation of the influence of the far-away charges. Alternatively, introductory treatments of magnetism introduce the Biot–Savart law, which describes the magnetic field associated with an electric current. An observer at rest with respect to a system of static, free charges will see no magnetic field.
The magnitude of the Coulomb interaction F between two ions of charge q and Q a distance R apart is given by F = q Q 4 π ϵ 0 R 2 {\displaystyle F={\frac {qQ}{4\pi \epsilon _{0}R^{2}}}} directed along the axis between the two ions, where a positive value represents a repulsive force and vice versa.