TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

GENERAL PHYSICS 2

2nd SEMESTER, SY 2020-2021

Name: Renz Mar David S. Lumabi Grade & Section: 12STEMA7

Coulombs law
Performance task 5.1
I. Objectives
At the end of this activity, the students will be able to:

 Relate the electrostatic force magnitude to the charges and the distance between them
 Explain Newton's third law for electrostatic forces
 Use measurements to determine Coulomb’s constant
 Determine what makes a force attractive or repulsive

II. Materials
 Projectile motion simulation link: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/coulombs-
law/latest/coulombs-law_en.html
 Scratch paper (for solution)
III. Procedures
Carefully follow the procedures:
1. Click the link given above or copy and paste it to any browser, it will direct you to the
website of our virtual lab.
2. It will lead you to this page and click the Macro Scale.

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 3. You will see the main interface of the simulation. You have to set up and familiarized
first the lab with this guidelines:

In the interface you will see particle charges, You can adjust the position of the particle with your
ideal distance, be mindful that the ruler's unit is in cm. Below the ruler, you will see the buttons where
you can adjust the amount of charge to each particle.

IV. Set - up
Directions: Attach1 picture or screen shots of the calculations and simulations for each
question. (if needed)
A. Simulation Screenshots

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B. Manual Solution

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V. Data
A. Fill in the blanks using the Simulator.(Provide your screenshot below)

q1 q2 Distance Force Kind of Force

(r) (N) (Attractive or
Repulsive)

1 -3μC 3μC 6cm 22.469N Attractive

2 4μC 10μC 2cm 898.755N Repulsive
3 -2μC -7μC 10cm 12.583N Repulsive
4 -6μC -3μC 5cm 64.710N Repulsive
5 -5μC 2μC 3cm 139.806N Attractive

B. Fill in the blanks using Manual Simulator(Provide your solution below)

q1 q2 Distance Force Kind of Force

(r) (N) (Attractive or
Repulsive)
1 -3μC 3 μC 6cm 22.469N or 22.5N Attractive
2 4 μC 10 μC or 2cm 898.755N
Repulsive
9.98x10-6C
3 -2 μC or -1.99 -7 μC 10cm 12.583N
μC (-1.99x10-6C) Repulsive
4 -6 μC -3 μC or -2.99 μC 5cm 64.710N
Repulsive
(-2.99x10-6C)
5 -5 μC 2 μC 3cm 139.806N
or Attractive
0.03m

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 VI. Guide Questions

Set the charges to be q1 = 5 μC and q2 = 5 μC What

is the magnitude of the force on q1 by q2 ? (N) What
is the magnitude of the force on q2 by q1? (N)

Simulation version: Given: q1 = 5 μC

q2 = 5 μC
d = 4 cm
(q1 by q2) F = 140.430 N
(q2 by q1) F = 140.430 N

Manual Simulator Solution:

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Do the two forces have the different directions?
Yes. They repel one another in opposite directions, with q1 repelling on the left and q2
repelling on the right, despite the fact that they have the same forces and both charges are
positive and have the same value.

Is charge q1 attracted to q2 or repelled? Keep the charges at the same values as the previous
question. If you click on either person you can change the distance between them.
Pertaining the earlier query, q1 repels q2 due to q1's sign. Even if they were calibrated for
distance, both charges have the same value and force and are positive.

What happens to the magnitude of the force as the charges are taken further apart? Leave q1 at the
same charge value but now change the chargeq2= -2μC

Because the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the
centers of the charges and directly proportional to the amount of one electric charge, its
magnitude decreases as the charges are separated further apart. When two opposite charges
are close to one another, there is more force because the signs of the two charges differ.

Is the force between the charges attractive or repulsive?

The attractive force between the charges grows as the two opposite charges draw closer
to one another.

What happens to the magnitude of the force as the charges are taken further apart?
Because the force between two charged objects is inversely related to the distance
between the two objects, it is stated in the previous answers that when two attracting charges
split, the magnitude of the force decreases. As the space between objects gets larger, the
force of attraction or repulsion gradually decreases.

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Set the distance between the two charges to 6 cm. What is the magnitude of the force? (N)

 When the distance between the two charges is set to 6 cm, the magnitude of the force is
62.414 N or 62.5 N when computed manually.

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VII. Conclusion
Note: Your conclusions should be align to the given objectives.

After the simulation, I hope to have a better understanding of electrostatics and how it relates to
Newton's third law of motion. As we investigated the relationship between simulation and manual
simulation, the following simulation findings were successful. We can see from the detailed result that
the forces and charges are identical in both tables. I've also discovered that positive charges attract
even when their values are equal, whereas negative charges repel. The force between two charged
objects is also inversely proportional to their distance, as demonstrated in the examples. The force of
attraction or repulsion weakens as the distance between objects increases.

Continuing to follow the electrocharge calculations. It follows that the Coulomb's law can be
used to relate the size of the charges to their distance. Furthermore, by determining whether the
force is attractive or repulsive.

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“I affirm that I have not given or received any unauthorized help on this assignment and that this work is my
own.”