Name: Tayla Bolden Date:

Student Exploration: Coulomb Force (Static)

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: Coulomb’s law, electrostatic force, vector

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.). Have you ever taken clothes out of
the dryer and found a sock stuck to your underwear? Static cling is an example of electrostatic forces, or
the forces that exist between charged objects.

1. How do you think the sock and underwear became charged?

I think the forces became charged by the heat in the dryer balancing out their charges

2. Suppose two socks acquire the same charge. Do you think they would stick together? Explain:

I think they would stick together because the charges balance out once opposed to
another force

Gizmo Warm-up
As clothes are tumbled in a dryer, electrons are rubbed off
some items, giving them a positive charge, and deposited
on other items, giving them a negative charge. These
charged items exert electrostatic forces on one another.
You can explore these forces with the Coulomb Force
(Static) Gizmo.

In its initial settings, the Gizmo shows two objects that each have a charge (q) of 10.0 × 10-4 C (coulombs).
Turn on the Show force vector checkboxes for objects A and B. The arrows coming from each object are
vectors that represent the electrostatic force. The direction and length of each vector show the direction
and magnitude (strength) of each force.

1. Are the vectors for objects A and B pointing together or away from each other?

away from each other

2. Are objects A and B attracted together or repelled apart?

repelled apart

3. Compare the lengths of the vectors. What do you notice?

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 they are the same length

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity A:
● Turn on Show grid. Place object A on the x-axis at
-5 and object B on the x-axis at +5.
The effect of
● Check that Show force vector is turned on for
charge
each object.

Question: How does charge affect the strength of the electrostatic force?

1. Observe: You can change the charge of each object by entering the desired value in the qA and qB
boxes. Observe the force vectors for each of the situations listed in the table below. Based on the force
vectors, state whether the objects are repelled from one another, attracted to one another, or if there is
no force at all.

qA qB Attraction, repulsion, or no force?

1.0 × 10-4 C 1.0 × 10-4 C repulsion
-1.0 × 10-4 C 1.0 × 10-4 C attraction
-1.0 × 10-4 C -1.0 × 10-4 C repulsion
1.0 × 10-4 C 0.0 × 10-4 C no force

2. Make a rule: Complete the following sentences with the words “attract,” “repel,” or “zero.”

When the charges are the same, the two objects repel one another.

When the charges are opposite, the two objects attract one another.

When one of the objects has no charge, the resulting force is 0.

3. Predict: How do you think the magnitude of the electrostatic force between two objects will change if
the charge of each object was doubled?

They would still attract and repel but with more force.

4. Measure: Turn on Show vector notation for both objects. Set the charge of objects A and B to 1.0 ×
10-4 C. The force on object A is now -0.90i + 0j N. That means that the force is
-0.90 N in the x direction and 0 N in the y direction.

A. What is the magnitude of the force on object A? |FA| = .9 N

B. What is the magnitude of the force on object B? |FB| = .9 N

C. The force on object A is negative. What does this indicate about the direction of the force?

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5. Gather data: For each charge combination listed in the table below, write magnitude of the force on
object A. (Note: The magnitude of the force, or its strength, is always positive.)

qA qB |FA| Factor qA × qB
0.9 N 1 -8
1.0 × 10-4 C 1.0 × 10-4 C 1.0 × 10 C

1.0 × 10-4 C 2.0 × 10-4 C 1.8 N 2 -8

2.0 × 10 C
2.0 × 10-4 C 2.0 × 10-4 C 3.6 N 4 -8
4.0 × 10 C
2.0 × 10-4 C 3.0 × 10-4 C 5.4 N 6 -8
6.0 × 10 C

6. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in the data?

the force doubles as the charge doubles.

7. Calculate: To calculate how much the force is multiplied, divide each force by the first value, 0.90 N. Fill
in these values under Factor in the table. What do you notice?

The factors double

8. Calculate: Calculate the product of the two charges, and fill in these values in the last column. Compare
these numbers to the Factor numbers. What do you notice?

they are proportional to force factor

9. Apply: What would you expect the force to be if the charge of object A was 5.0 × 10-4 C and the charge
of object B was 4.0 × 10-4 C? Check your answer with the Gizmo.

-8
20 × 10

10. Challenge: Based on what you have learned, write an equation for the strength of the electrostatic force
for two charges that are separated by 10 meters. Use the Gizmo to check your equation.

F=

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 Activity B:
Get the Gizmo ready:
● Turn on Show distance.
The effect of
● Set qA to 10.0 × 10-4 C and qB to 1.0 × 10-4 C.
distance

Question: How does distance affect the strength of the electrostatic force?

1. Observe: Move object A back and forth. How does the distance between the objects affect the strength
of the electrostatic force between them?

the force decreases and the objects move apart

2. Predict: How do you think the electrostatic force between two objects would change if the distance
between the two objects was doubled?

force would increase

3. Measure: Place object A on the x-axis at -2, and object B on the x-axis at +1.

A. What is the magnitude of the force on object A? |FA| = 100 N

B. What is the magnitude of the force on object A? |FA| = 100 N

C. What is the magnitude of the force on object B? |FB| = 100 N

4. Gather data: Check that qA is 10.0 × 10-4 C and qB is 1.0 × 10-4 C. For each position of object A, record
the distance between the objects and the force on object A.

Objec Distance Distance Force 1

Object A |FA| (N)
tB (m) factor factor Dist. factor2
(-2, 0) (1, 0) 3m 100 N 1 1.00 1.00
(-5, 0) (1, 0) 6m 25 N 2 0.250 0.250
6.25 N 0.0625
(-11, 0) (1, 0) 12 m 4 0.0625
(-14, 0) (1, 0) 15 m 4N 5 0.04 0.04

5. Calculate: To calculate the distance factor, divide each distance by the original distance
(3 m). To calculate the force factor, divide each force by the original force (100 N).

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 A. How does the force change as the distance increases? the force decreases as
the distance increases

B. Now find the reciprocal of each distance factor squared. they are equal to
What do you notice?

6. Apply: What would you expect the force to be if the distance was 30 meters?

How did you come up with your answer?

i squared 0.1 and put it times a 100 which is equal to 1 N

Use the Gizmo to check your answer.

7. Make a rule: Based on what you have learned, write an equation to calculate the force between two
objects if the product of their charges is 1.0 × 10-7 C. Use the Gizmo to test your formula. (Note: Use
the variable R for the distance between the charges.)

F=

8. Summarize: Fill in the blanks. The electrostatic force between two objects is proportional to the

reciprocal of the distance squared

9. Challenge: Coulomb’s law is an equation that relates the electrostatic force between two objects to
their distance and charge. In activity A, you found that the electrostatic force between two objects is
proportional to the product of their charges. Combine that with what you have learned in this activity to
complete Coulomb’s law below. (Hint: In the equation, k is a constant.) Check your answer with your
teacher. Click the image to select EDIT to use the text box.

10. On your own: Use the Gizmo to find the value of k in the formula above. List the value and describe
how you found it below. The units of k are newton · meter2 ÷ coulombs2, or N·m2/C2. Check your
answer with your teacher.

k= 9
9.0 × 10

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Show your work:

-4
10.0 × 10 C
-4
1.0 × 10 C
R = 30 m
Fq = 1 N.

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