COULOMB’S LAW WORKSHEET

Coulomb’s Law states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force between two charges is directly
proportional to the product of the magnitude of the two charges | q1 | | q2|, and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance, d, between them

Here F is the force of attraction or the force of repulsion between the like or unlike charges, k is called
the Coulomb’s constant, q1 is the first charge, q2 is the second charge and d is the distance between the
charges.

The unit of F is Newton (N), of q1 and q2 is Coulomb (C), of distance, d is meters (m).
The value of k is 9 x 109 and its unit us N-m2/c2

1. Find the electric force between two 1.00C charges separated by a distance of 1.00m.

2. An attractive electrostatic force of 0.975N exist between 2 charges when the separated by
1.31m. If one of the objects has a charge of 8.44 x 10-6 C, find the sign and magnitude of the
second object.

3. Two point charges, 3.13 x 10-6C and -4.47 x 10-6C are separated by 0.42m.
a. Find the magnitude of the electrostatic force experienced by the positive charge
 b. Is the magnitude of the force experienced by the negative charge greater than, less than
or the same as that experienced by the positive charge? Explain.

4. Given that q1 = +12μC, find the direction and the magnitude of the net electrostatic force
exerted on the point charge q1 as shown in the diagram given below.

+12μC 6cm
q 1

5. Find the direction and magnitude of the net electrostatic force exerted on the point charge q2 as
shown in the figure. Let q2 = -2.4μC.

+2.4μC 33cm
q 2