3
votes
1answer
57 views

What are the limits of applicability of Coulomb's Law?

Coulomb's law is formally parallel to Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, which is known to give way to General Relativity for very large masses. Does Coulomb's Law have any similar limits of ...
1
vote
0answers
37 views

Static electrical attraction [closed]

Coulomb's law is used to calculate the electrical attraction between 2 charged particles, what formula do I use to calculate an electrical attraction magnitude between 2 plates? Let's assume the first ...
1
vote
2answers
106 views

How to check units?

I've got: $Q=\frac{Er^2}{k}$ how to check the units? I start with $\left[\frac{\text V}{\text m} \, \text m^2\right]$, tried replacing $[ \text V ]$ with $\left[ \frac{\text J}{\text C} \right]$, but ...
10
votes
2answers
315 views

Using photons to explain electrostatic force

I am trying to understand the idea of a force carrier with the following example. Let's say there are two charges $A$ and $B$ that are a fixed distance from each other. What is causing the force on ...
1
vote
1answer
121 views

Finding the electric field on a point (x,y,z) using Coulomb's Law

Using Gauss' Law, the answer is $$\frac{Q}{4 \pi \epsilon R^2}.$$ However if I were to do the integration using Coulomb's Law, I get $$ \int_0^{2\pi} \int_{0}^{\pi}\int_r^a \frac{\rho \sin\theta dR ...
0
votes
1answer
99 views

How does one come up with the Coulomb's law?

My teacher mentioned that field line density = no. of lines / area and the total area of a sphere is $4\pi r^2$ and so an electric force is inversely proportional to $r^2$. Actually, why can the total ...
5
votes
1answer
285 views

Are the Maxwell's equations enough to derive the law of Coulomb?

Are the 8 Maxwell's equations enough to derive the formula for the electromagnetic field created by a stationary point charge, which is the same as the law of Coulomb? If I am not mistaken, due to ...
4
votes
3answers
238 views

Change in attraction of charged bodies

If I insert a piece of glass between two objects carrying different charges, would they still attract? If they attract, does the piece of glass affect the force of attraction and is there any formula ...
1
vote
1answer
542 views

How is Gauss' Law (integral form) arrived at from Coulomb's Law, and how is the differential form arrived at from that?

On a similar note: when using Gauss' Law, do you even begin with Coulomb's law, or does one take it as given that flux is the surface integral of the Electric field in the direction of the normal to ...
1
vote
2answers
157 views

In which cases is it better to use Gauss' law?

I could, for example calculate the electric field near a charged rod of infinite length using the classic definition of the electric field, and integrating the: $$ \overrightarrow{dE} = \frac{dq}{4 ...
0
votes
1answer
86 views

Gaussian Unit of Charge and Force

I just read that in the Gaussian Units of charge The Final equation in Coulomb's law is as simple as $$\boldsymbol{F}=\frac{q_1q_2}{r^2}$$ No $\epsilon_0$ no $4\pi$ like you have in the $\mbox{SI}$ ...
1
vote
3answers
397 views

Electrostatic Potential Energy

I have read many books on Mechanics and Electrodynamics and the one thing that has confused me about electrostatic potential energy is its derivation .One of the classical derivations is : ...
2
votes
2answers
704 views

Electric potential due to a point charge in Gaussian/CGS units

I learned electrostatics in SI units. In SI, the electrostatic potential due to a point charge $q$ located at $\textbf{r}$ is given by $\Phi(\textbf{r}) = \frac{q}{4 \pi \epsilon_0 |\textbf{r}|}$. ...
0
votes
0answers
486 views

Placing charges using Coulombs law [closed]

A charge +Q is located at the origin and a second charge, +4Q is at a distance d on the x-axis. where should a third charge, q, be placed, and what should be its sign and magnitude, so that all three ...
31
votes
5answers
2k views

Does Coulomb's Law, with Gauss's Law, imply the existence of only three spatial dimensions?

Coulomb's Law states that the fall-off of the strength of the electrostatic force is inversely proportional to the distance squared of the charges. Gauss's law implies that a the total flux through a ...