this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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If you have two charges
q1andq2, you can get the force between themFby multiplying them with the coulomb constantK(approximately 9 × 10^9) and then dividing that by the distance between them squaredr^2.q1andq2cannot be negative. Sometimes you'll not be given a charge, and instead the problem will tell you that you have a proton or electron, both of them have the same charge (1.6 × 10^-19 C), but electrons have a negative charge.q1 and q2 can be negative. The force is the same as if they were positive because -1 x -1 = 1
In this case yes, but if q1 was -20μC, q2 was 30μC, and r was 0.5m, then using -20μC as it is would make F equal to -21.6N which is just 21.6N of attraction force between the two charges.
If they are oppositely charged particles, I would expect that there is a force of attraction acting on them, yes.
I am not saying that's wrong, just that there's 21.6N of attraction force between the two charges not -21.6N.
But those are the same thing.
No, if the force is negative it acts in the opposite direction
Yes, and a force acting in the opposite direction of the distance is an attractive force.
But that if both are negative not one pos one neg like the previous commenter gave in their examples, so the true formula has an absolute value in the numerator: |q1Xq2|
No, but there should be a minus in the Coulomb formula