PHYSICS LAB 2 COULOMB'S LAW
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School
University of Miami *
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Course
102
Subject
Law
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
8
Uploaded by katherinemallol
Group:
Anthony Bracikowski, Chayanne Pendas, Katherine Mallol, & Nicholas Goller
Lab 2. Coulomb's Law
The electrostatic forces which you observed in Lab I were studied in detail by
Coulomb in 1784. His experiments resulted in the empirical law named after him. It
describes the forces that two small, particle-like, charged objects exert on each
other, forces that depend on the magnitudes of the charges, Cll and (12, as well as
the distance r between the charged particles. See Fig. l. To attempt to explore
Coulomb's Law using physical apparatus is fraught with difficulty, especially in
south Florida. For this
reason, you will be using a computer simulation instead.
O
O
Figure I
OBJECTIVES
•
Determine how the forces on the particles depend on their charges.
•
Determine how the forces on the particles depend on the distance between
them.
•
Determine whether Newton's 3
rd
law is applicable to these forces.
Obtain a value for the Coulomb law constant.
MATERIALS
computer
14
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
Why do you think that exploring Coulomb's law with physical apparatus
is "fraught with difficulty, especially in south Florida?"
-
Exploring Coulomb’s law with physical apparatus is especially difficult in South
Florida because of the frequent thunderstorms and rainfall creating a charged
atmosphere. Due to this, static charges are harder to produce in an already charged
atmosphere.
2. How would you expect the forces to depend on the magnitude of either
charge?
-
The larger the magnitude of the force, the stronger the force it exerts on the other
charge.
3. How would you expect the forces to depend on the distance between the
particles? Would it increase or decrease as the distance increases?
-
The closer in proximity that the particles are, the force they exert on each other
increases, whether by repulsion or attraction. However, at a certain distance, the
magnetic force may be too far to exert a force and thus, it decreases.
4. Do the signs of the charges play a role? Explain.
-
The sign simply indicates the direction of the force vector.
5. Do you think that the magnitude of the force on the larger charge is bigger
than that on the smaller charge?
-
Because the magnitude of force is directly related to the magnitude of the
charge, higher charge = larger force.
15
ANALYSIS
1. What did you observe about the magnitudes of the forces on the two
charges. Were they the same or different? Does your answer depend on
whether the charges were of the same magnitude or different? How does
this relate to Newton's 3
rd
law?
When we kept Q1 constant and changed Q2 by a factor of 10 after every
experiment leading up to a total value of -110 and a beginning value of -10 the Net
Force value kept on increasing every step. As you increase the value of charges the
magnitude of said forces increase. The answer depends on the fact that the value of
the charges had to be changing on at least one side for the net force to receive any
visual impact to magnitude. Because for every increase in q2’s there was an equal
and opposite reaction to the net force viewed after the difference in q2 was inserted.
This directly relates to and proves Newton’s 3rd law.
2.
What did you observe about the directions of the two forces? How did the
directions depend on the signs of the charges?
The two forces viewed in the experiment were facing towards each other. This
is likely due to the fact that both charges were opposites; one negative and one
positive. This experiment validates the idea that opposite charges attract.
16
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3.
Print your three graphs.
17
4.
The graph of force vs. q1q2 should be linear. To fit a line to this data, click and
drag the mouse across the linear region, then click Linear Fit,
18
4.
Combine the slope of the line with the value of r in order to obtain the value
(plus units) of the Coulomb law constant.
5.
What was the function of r that resulted in your third graph being linear?
1
𝑟
2
6.
Combine the slope of this graph with the values of q1 and q2 to again obtain the
value (plus units) of the Coulomb law constant.
19
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Data Tables
Table 1
Distance between char es, r
=5
=5 m
q1(c)
q2(c)
Force N
10 x 10^-6
-10 x 10^-6
.036
10 x 10^-6
-20 x 10^-6
.072
10 x 10^-6
-30 x 10^-6
.108
10 x 10^-6
-40 x 10^-6
.144
10 x 10^-6
-50 x 10^-6
.18
10 x 10^-6
-60 x 10^-6
.216
10 x 10^-6
-70 x 10^-6
.252
10 x 10^-6
-80 x 10^-6
.288
10 x 10^-6
-90 x 10^-6
.324
10 x 10^-6
-100 x 10^-6
.36
10 x 10^-6
-110 x 10^-6
.395
Table 2
q1=
30x10^-6c
q2=
-3-x10^-
6c
Distance, r m
Force
N
2.022
1.979
20
3.001
.898
4
.506
5.001
.323
6
.225
7
.165
8
.126
9
.1
10
.081
11
.067
12
.056
21