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What is Coulumb's law ?

Coulomb's law states that the electrical force between two charged objects is directly proportional to the product of the quantity of charge on the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance between the two objects.
 In equation form, Coulomb's law can be stated as

F=k*Q1*Q2
          d2


where Q1 represents the quantity of charge on object 1 (in Coulombs), Q2 represents the quantity of charge on object 2 (in Coulombs), and d represents the distance of separation between the two objects (in meters). The symbol k is a proportionality constant known as the Coulomb's law constant. The value of this constant is dependent upon the medium that the charged objects are immersed in. In the case of air, the value is approximately 9.0 x 109 N • m2 / C2. If the charged objects are present in water, the value of k can be reduced by as much as a factor of 80. It is worthwhile to point out that the units on k are such that when substituted into the equation the units on charge (Coulombs) and the units on distance (meters) will be cancelled, leaving a Newton as the unit of force.


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