If the distance between two charges is halved, how does the force between them c

If the distance between two charges is halved, how does the force between them change?

If the distance between two charges is halved, how does the force between them change?

Step 1: Understand Coulomb's law, which states that the force (F) between two charges is related to the distance (d) between them.
Step 2: Remember that the formula for the force is F = k * (q1 * q2) / d^2, where k is a constant and q1 and q2 are the charges.
Step 3: Note that 'd' is in the denominator and is squared (d^2). This means that if 'd' changes, the force will change significantly.
Step 4: If the distance (d) is halved, it becomes d/2.
Step 5: Substitute d/2 into the formula: F = k * (q1 * q2) / (d/2)^2.
Step 6: Simplify the equation: (d/2)^2 = d^2 / 4, so F = k * (q1 * q2) / (d^2 / 4).
Step 7: This can be rewritten as F = k * (q1 * q2) * (4 / d^2).
Step 8: Notice that the force is now 4 times greater than the original force when the distance was d.

Coulomb's Law – Coulomb's law states that the force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.