Electric Force Holt: Chapter 17-2 Pages 634-642

Electric Force Electric force - force exerted between two charged objects  measured in Newtons The closer the charges the greater the force between them.

Electric Force Coulomb’s Law (1780’s) – electric force between 2 objects Felectric = kc •q1•q2 r2 q1 = charge #1 q2 = charge #2 r = distance between charges kc = Coulomb’s Constant in N•m2/c2  8.99 x 109 N• m2/c2

Electric Force Force is a vector quantity (magnitude and direction) Force goes exactly between 2 objects in a straight line - +

Electric Force Field force = no contact needed Inversely proportional to the square of the distance of separation, bigger distance = less force.

Electric Force Differences between electric and gravitational forces 1. Electric attracts / repels and Gravitational = always attracts 2. Electric is stronger than gravitational Charge to overcome gravitational force is small

Electric Force Principle of superposition → Resultant force on any one charge equals vector sum of the individual forces exerted on that charge by all of the other individual charges that are present.

Electric Force Net external force = 0 N In electrostatic situations the equilibrium position of a charge is the location in which the net electric force on the charge = 0 N