A charge of #-2 C# is at #(-2 , 1 )# and a charge of #-1 C# is at #(1 ,-3) #. If both coordinates are in meters, what is the force between the charges?
1 Answer
The force between the charges is given by Coulomb's Law,
Explanation:
The first step is to find the distance between the two charges:
So the points are
Now use Coloumb's Law. The constant k has the value
This is quite a large force, but it's unsurprising because a coulomb is quite a large amount of electric charge, and because the constant in Coulumb's Law is so large (electrostatic forces are much stronger than gravitational forces, for example).