Question

If the distance between two charge particles is increased by four, the force will decrease by a factor of .

Answer 1

The force decreases by the square of the increase in distance. That's 16 .

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

According to Coulomb's law, the magnitude of electrostatic force of attraction between two point charges is directly proportional to product of magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Mathematically, F =
`(q_(1)q_(2))/(r^(2))`

where F = force

`q_(1)` = charge 1

`q_(2)` = charge 2

r = distance between the charges

Therefore, when distance is increase by four times then the force will decrease by a factor of 16 as force is inversely proportional to the square of distance.