Edexcel Physics Unit 4 2.1 Electrostatics

Electrostatics

Coulomb’s Law

            The interaction of charged particles can be thought of as one particle feeling a force caused by another’s electric field (i.e. a proton interacting with the force of another proton).

F=kQ1Q2

         r^2                (given on the formulae page)

This is the equation for the force between two charged particles (Q1 and Q2), their centres separated by a distance r. k is constant that depends upon the medium between the charges, value 8.99 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2 (give on the formulae page) in a vacuum.

The forces on each charged…