Question

Challenge #1: How is electrostatic force (Felect) related to the magnitude of charge on the two objects?

1. Keeping the separation distance for all trials the SAME, change the magnitude of the charges and record the force.

Charge on 1 (q1)	Charge on 2 (q2)	Force (Felect)
5 C	200 C	1 N

Is the relationship between MAGNITUDE of the electric charge and FORCE different today than it was yesterday? What type of relationship is this? Positive/Negative Linear/Non-linear

The arrows in the simulation illustrate the SIZE and DIRECTION of the FORCE. What happens to the DIRECTION of the force when you switch from opposite charges to similar charges?

Challenge #2: How is the electrostatic force (Felect) related to the separation distance (d) the two charges?

1. Keeping the magnitude of charge on both objects the SAME, collect data relating distance to force.

Separation Distance (d)	Force (Felect)
1 box

Is the relationship between DISTANCE between the electric charges and FORCE different today than it was yesterday? What type of relationship is this? Positive/Negative Linear/Non-linear

Answer 1

Ans for Challenge 1:

By Coulomb's law

where ke is Coulomb's constant (ke ≈ 9×109 N⋅m2⋅C−2),

q1 and q2 are the signed magnitudes of the charges, and the scalar r is the distance between the charges.

Here k and distance are constant.

So Felect is directly proportional to magnitude of electric charges on two objects.

It means if magnitude of charges increases the Felect will also increases.

Hence the relationship between MAGNITUDE of the electric charge and FORCE is linear and it will not change with time.

The force of the interaction between the charges is attractive if the charges have opposite signs (i.e.., F is negative) and repulsive if like-signed (i.e.., F is positive).

Ans for Challenge 2:

By Coulomb's law

By this law we can explain the relationship between F and distance.

Here K is a constant and take magnitude also constant. So the equation will become

From this we can clearly say that Felect is inversely proportional to distance between charges.

It means if distance r Increase the Felect will decreases.

Hence the relationship between DISTANCE between the electric charges and FORCE is Non-linear and it will not change with time.