Question

As a laudably skeptical physics student, you want to test Coulomb's law. For this purpose, you set up a measurement in which a proton and an electron are situated 885 nm from each other and you study the forces that the particles exert on each other. As expected, the predictions of Coulomb's law are well confirmed. Therefore, you find the forces are __________.

Answer 1

F = 2.6 x 10⁻²² N

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the Coulomb's Law, the force of attraction or repulsion between two charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of both the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The formula for the force is given as follows:

F = k q₁ q₂/r²

where,

F = Force of Attraction or Repulsion = ?

q₁ = magnitude of first charge = charge on electron = 1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

q₂ = magnitude of second charge = charge on proton = 1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C

k = Coulomb's Constant = 9 x 10⁰ N m²/C²

r = distance between the charges = 885 nm = 8.85 x 10⁻⁷ m

Therefore,

F = (9 x 10⁹ N.m²/C²)(1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C)(1.6 x 10⁻¹⁹ C)/(8.85 x 10⁻⁷ m)²

F = 2.6 x 10⁻²² N