Name: Electric Field of a Charged Plane Sheet
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 6 min 58 s
Description: Another distribution of charge. This time on an infinite plane sheet. Let’s see once again how Gauss’s law comes to the rescue in electric field calculations.

Question

Define Coulomb's law for the electrostatic force between two charges, and discuss its limitations. Using this law define

1

coulomb of charge.

Accepted Answer

Coulomb's law gives the amount of force between two stationary, electrically charged particles. This electric force is conventionally also called the electrostatic force. 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. This force is along the straight line joining them. This law also gives us the popular law that like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other. In a vector form, it is represented as,

$\vec{F} = k \frac{q_{1} q_{2}}{r^{2}} \hat{r}$

There are certain limitations to the coulomb's law. It is only applicable for point charges at rest. It is only applicable in those cases where the inverse square law is obeyed. It is difficult to apply Coulomb's law when the charges are in an arbitrary shape. For example, if two electrons are moving, Coulomb's law is not applicable. If we charge a spherical ball with a dent in it, Coulomb's law is not applicable.

Using this information, we can define a one-coulomb charge as follows. If the force acting on a pair of equally charged particles placed $3 km$ apart is $10 N$ , then the charges are said to be of one coulomb.

Define Coulomb's law for the electrostatic force between two charges, and discuss its limitations. Using this law define $1$ coulomb of charge.

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