may be stated as follows:
''"The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two point charges is directly proportional to the magnitudes of each charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the charges."''
This is analogous to Newton's third law of motion in mechanics. The formula to Coulomb's Law is of the same form as Newton's Gravitational Law. The electrical force of one body exerted on the second body is equal to the force exerted by the second body on the first.
When one is interested only in the magnitude of the force (and not in its direction), it may be easiest to consider a simplified, Scalar version of the law
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{1 \over 4 \pi \epsilon_0} {q_1 q_2 \over \left\mathbf{r}
ight^2}
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This vector equation indicates that opposite charges attract, and like charges repel. When
is negative, the force is attractive. When positive, the force is repulsive.
Below is a graphical representation of Coulomb's law.
is the force experienced by
.
is the vector between two charges (
and
).
From the
Lorentz Force Law , the
Electric Field ''E'' of a single point charge ''q'' is
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