Coulomb’s law for electrostatic force between two point charges and Newton’s law for gravitational force between two stationary point masses, both have inverse-square dependence on the distance between the charges/masses. Compare the strength of these forces by determining the ratio of their magnitudes for an electron and a proton and for two protons.
Coulomb’s law for electrostatic force between two point charges and Newton’s law for gravitational force between two stationary point masses, both have inverse-square dependence on the distance between the charges/masses. Estimate the accelerations of electron and proton due to the electrical force of their mutual attraction when they are apart?
A charged metallic sphere is suspended by a nylon thread. Another charged metallic sphere held by an insulating handle is brought close to such that the distance between their centres is , as shown in figure. The resulting repulsion of is noted (for example, by shining a beam of light and measuring the deflection of its shadow on a screen). Spheres and are touched by uncharged spheres and respectively, as shown in figure. and are then removed and is brought closer to to a distance of between their centres, as shown in figure. What is the expected repulsion of on the basis of Coulomb’s law? Spheres and and spheres and have identical sizes. Ignore the sizes of and in comparison to the separation between their centres.
Consider three charges each equal to at the vertices of an equilateral triangle of side . What is the force on a charge with the same sign as placed at the centroid of the triangle, as shown in figure.
An electron falls through a distance of in a uniform electric field of magnitude The direction of the field is reversed keeping its magnitude unchanged and a proton falls through the same distance Compute the time of fall in each case. Contrast the situation with that of ‘free fall under gravity’.