COULOMB’S LAW

Coulomb's law states that:

The magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two
point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges
and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.[13]
The force is along the straight line joining them. If the two charges have the same
sign, the electrostatic force between them is repulsive; if they have different signs,
the force between them is attractive.

FORMULA
Coulomb's law describes the force between two charged particles.

Here, F is the force between the particles, qa and qb are the charges of
particles a and b. The separation between the particles is r, and k is a constant,
8.99x109 (Nm2/C2). Note that the force falls off quadratically, similarly to the
behavior of the gravitational force. The force is attractive, when F is negative,
hence when the charges have opposite sign. Opposites attract - like charges repel.
Of course, remember that force is a vector, which in this case points parallel to r.

If a charge a is in the presence of several charges, the force that a feels is the sum
of the forces from the remaining charges. For instance if there are three charges, a,
b, and c, the net force felt by a is:

where rab is the separation between a and b.

EXAMPLE PROBLEMS
Example #1

Problem:
How many coulomb's of charge is contained in the electrons of one kg of hydrogen?

Solution:

One kg of hydrogen is 1000 grams, and has therefore 1000 times Avagadro's
number of electrons.

Q = 1000* NA * e

where e = 1.602E-19 (C) , and NA = Avogadro's number = 6.02E23

Q = -4.82E7 (C)

Example #2

Problem:

Consider one gram of hydrogen gas which has been separated into its
electrons and protons. The electrons are placed on Earth's north pole and
the protons are placed on Earth's south pole. What is the magnitude of the
force the electrons feel due to the presence of the protons?

Solution:

Remember that one gram of H gas has one mole (Avagadro's number) of
hydrogen atoms.

The force between the two is given by Coulomb's law:

where k = 8.99E9 (Nm2/C2) , r = 2*6.37E6 (m) , qa = qb =

NA*e , e = 1.602E-19 (C) , and NA = Avogadro's number =
6.02E23
 F = 5.14E5 (N)

Example #3

Problem:

What is the elecric force between 2 u-quarks separated by 1.0E-16 meters? This is a
typical separation inside a proton.

Given: The charge of an up quark is (2/3)e.

Solution:

The force between the two is given by Coulomb's law:

where r = 1.0E-16 (m) , qa = qb = (2/3)*e

F = 1.03E4 (N)

DISCUSSION
Comparing Electrical and Gravitational Forces
Electrical force and gravitational force are the two non-contact forces discussed
in The Physics Classroom tutorial. Coulomb's law equation for electrical force bears
a strong resemblance to Newton's equation for universal gravitation.

The two equations have a very similar form. Both equations show an inverse square
relationship between force and separation distance. And both equations show that
the force is proportional to the product of the quantity that causes the force -
charge in the case of electrical force and mass in the case of gravitational force. Yet
there are some striking differences between these two forces. First, a comparison
of the proportionality constants - k versus G - reveals that the Coulomb's law
constant (k) is significantly greater than Newton's universal gravitation constant
(G). Subsequently a unit of charge will attract a unit of charge with significantly
more force than a unit of mass will attract a unit of mass. Second, gravitational
forces are only attractive; electrical forces can be either attractive or repulsive.
The inverse square relationship between force and distance that is woven into the
equation is common to both non-contact forces. This relationship highlights the
importance of separation distance when it comes to the electrical force between
charged objects.

OHM’S LAW
This article is about the law related to electricity. For other uses, see Ohm's acoustic
law.
OHM LAW states that the current through a conductor between two points is
directly proportional to the voltage across the two points. Introducing the constant
of proportionality, the resistance, one arrives at the usual mathematical equation
that describes this relationship:
where I is the current through the conductor in units of amperes, V is the
voltage measured across the conductor in units of volts, and R is
the resistance of the conductor in units of ohms. More specifically, Ohm's
law states that the R in this relation is constant, independent of the current.
Ohm's law is an empirical relation which accurately describes the
conductivity of the vast majority of electrically conductive materials over
many orders of magnitude of current. However some materials do not obey
Ohm's law, these are called non-ohmic.
The law was named after the German physicist Georg Ohm, who, in a treatise
published in 1827, described measurements of applied voltage and current
through simple electrical circuits containing various lengths of wire. Ohm
explained his experimental results by a slightly more complex equation than the
modern form above (see History).
 In physics, the term Ohm's law is also used to refer to various generalizations of
the law; for example the vector form of the law used in electromagnetics and
material science:
where J is the current density at a given location in a resistive material, E is
the electric field at that location, and σ (sigma) is a material-dependent
parameter called the conductivity

MATHEMATICAL FORM
he Ohm's Law formula or equation is very straightforward.

Ohm's law can be expressed in a mathematical form:

V=IRV=IR
Where:
V = voltage expressed in Volts
I = current expressed in Amps
R = resistance expressed in Ohms

The formula can be manipulated so that if any two quantities are known the third
can be calculated.

I=VRI=VR
R=VI

EXAMPLE
.Below we have a circuit with a resistor and a battery again. But this time we don’t
know the voltage of the battery. Instead we imagine that we have measured the
current in the circuit and found it to be 3 mA (milli Ampere).

The resistance of the resistor is 600 Ohm. What is the voltage of the battery?

By remembering the “VRIIII!” rule, you get:

V = RI
V = 600 Ohm * 3 mA
V = 1.8 V

So the voltage of the battery must be 1.8 V.

Return from Ohms Law to Electronic Schematics

DISCUSSION
Temperature effects
Ohm's law has sometimes been stated as, "for a conductor in a given state, the
electromotive force is proportional to the current produced." That is, that the
resistance, the ratio of the applied electromotive force (or voltage) to the current,
"does not vary with the current strength ." The qualifier "in a given state" is usually
interpreted as meaning "at a constant temperature," since the resistivity of
materials is usually temperature dependent. Because the conduction of current is
related to Joule heating of the conducting body, according to Joule's first law, the
temperature of a conducting body may change when it carries a current. The
dependence of resistance on temperature therefore makes resistance depend
upon the current in a typical experimental setup, making the law in this form
difficult to directly verify. Maxwell and others worked out several methods to test
the law experimentally in 1876, controlling for heating effects.
Relation to heat conductions
See also: Conduction (heat)
Ohm's principle predicts the flow of electrical charge (i.e. current) in electrical
conductors when subjected to the influence of voltage differences; Jean-Baptiste-
Joseph Fourier's principle predicts the flow of heat in heat conductors when
subjected to the influence of temperature differences.
The same equation describes both phenomena, the equation's variables taking on
different meanings in the two cases. Specifically, solving a heat conduction
(Fourier) problem with temperature (the driving "force") and flux of heat (the rate
of flow of the driven "quantity", i.e. heat energy) variables also solves an
analogous electrical conduction (Ohm) problem having electric potential (the
driving "force") and electric current (the rate of flow of the driven "quantity", i.e.
charge) variables.
The basis of Fourier's work was his clear conception and definition of thermal
conductivity. He assumed that, all else being the same, the flux of heat is strictly
proportional to the gradient of temperature. Although undoubtedly true for small
temperature gradients, strictly proportional behavior will be lost when real
materials (e.g. ones having a thermal conductivity that is a function of
temperature) are subjected to large temperature gradients.
A similar assumption is made in the statement of Ohm's law: other things being
alike, the strength of the current at each point is proportional to the gradient of
electric potential. The accuracy of the assumption that flow is proportional to the
gradient is more readily tested, using modern measurement methods, for the
electrical case than for the heat case.