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Natural & Physical Sciences
Coulomb’s Law Virtual Lab
Objective:
To virtually observe and measure how the electric force [Coulomb’s law] between two charges using a Physics Aviary sim.
Theory
In 1785, Charles Coulomb (1736–1806) experimentally established the fundamental law of electric force between two stationary charged particles.
He observed that the electric force has the following properties:
- It is directed along a line joining the two particles and is inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance r , between them.
- It is proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges, | q 1 | and | q 2 | , of the two particles.
- It is attractive if the charges are of opposite sign and repulsive if the charges have the same sign.
Natural & Physical Sciences From these observations, Coulomb proposed the following mathematical form for the electric force between two charges:
Fe = ke ¿ q 1 ∨¿ q 2 ∨ (^) r ¿ 2 ¿ where: Fe is the magnitude of the electric force ke is the Coulomb constant where ke = 8.99 × 10^9 N·m^2 /C^2 |q 1 | and | q 2 | are the magnitude of the two electric charges r is straight line separation distance between the two charge The permittivity of free space, ε 0 , is baseline physical constant that somewhat describes how electric fields move or exist through vacuum. It is also known as the electric constant and is related to electromagnetic waves.
ε 0 =8.85 × 10 −^12 NC ∙ m^22
Coulomb’s constant, ke , can be redefined as:
ke = (^4 1) πε 0 =8.99 × 109 N C^ ∙^ m 22
Simulation link:
The simulation can be found at the following link: https://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/ForceElectricMiniwithNumbers/
Natural & Physical Sciences
Part 1 – Increasing the Amount of Charge
- For this first lab procedure, you will only be changing the magnitude of only one the electric charges and writing down the corresponding electric force values.
- Keep the separation distance r and electric charge q2 the same for this part of the lab and write it down in the data table below.
- Start with the lowest amount of charge in q1 and record its respective electric force Fe , then increase q1 and record Fe again.
- Take at least ten (10) data points to fill out the Data Table 1 in the Lab Report section.
- Then in a graphing utility such as MS Excel, create a scatter [x-y] plot of Electric Force vs. Electric Charge.
- Please attach this graph to your lab submission. Make sure that your graph has the following information: chart title, y-axis title, x-axis title, trendline, and trendline equation
- Your graph should be linear. If not, then either check your data or how you made your graph again. You may consult your instructor, classmates, or even the Internet for more help on how to do this properly.
- If you do have a linear trendline equation for this graph, then use the following
equation to solve for Coulomb’s constant ke , slope =^ ke r^ q 2 2. Make sure to use your values for q 2 and r to isolate for ke. Don’t forget to convert your units!
- Then use the formula for percent error, shown below, to find out how close your calculated value is to value of Coulomb’s constant, ke = 8.99 × 10^9 N·m^2 /C^2. Then you may proceed to next part of lab procedure. % error =¿ Measured − Accepted ∨ (^) Accepted ¿ × 100 % ¿
Natural & Physical Sciences Please show/attach your handwritten calculations to this lab submission
