If the distance between two charges is halved, what happens to the force between
Practice Questions
Q1
If the distance between two charges is halved, what happens to the force between them?
It doubles
It halves
It quadruples
It remains the same
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
If the distance between two charges is halved, what happens to the force between them?
Step 1: Understand that there are two charges that are attracting or repelling each other.
Step 2: Know that the force between these charges is described by Coulomb's law.
Step 3: Remember that Coulomb's law states that the force (F) is inversely proportional to the square of the distance (r) between the charges, which means F ∝ 1/r^2.
Step 4: If the distance (r) is halved, we can express this as r/2.
Step 5: Substitute r/2 into the formula: F ∝ 1/(r/2)^2.
Step 6: Simplify the equation: F ∝ 1/(r^2/4) = 4/r^2.
Step 7: This shows that the force increases by a factor of 4 when the distance is halved.
Coulomb's Law – Coulomb's law describes the electrostatic force between two charges, stating that the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
