4.2.4.P6
Coulomb's law describes the force between two charges. We have written it as follows:
(1)
In various textbooks you will see this written in other ways: for example
A. For the expression (1) explain what each of the terms in the equation means and what they tell you about the electric force between two charges.
B. Expressions (2) and (3) differ in various ways from expression (1). Explain some of these differences (at least one for each) saying what information is represented differently (or not represented) compared to (1). What do the vertical bars mean in expression (3)?
C. Electric forces satisfy Newton's third law. Explain how this information is coded into expression (1).
D. In the problem Analyzing dipoles, we discovered that the force between a single charge and a dipole doesn't behave like 1/r2, but falls off like 1/r3 at long distances. Does this mean that Coulomb's law doesn't hold? When can we use it and when can we not use it?
Joe Redish 10/25/13
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