PHYS 142 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Electric Field
12 Mar 2015
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Phys 142: electromagnetism and optics - lecture 2: coulomb"s law and the electric field. When two charged particles of respective charges q1 and q2 are a distance r apart, each particle exerts a force on the other of magnitude: k q1 q2 r2. In si units k = 8. 99 109 n m2/c2. These forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction; they are directed along the line joining the two particles. They are repulsive for two like charges and attractive for two opposite charges. Another way to write coulomb"s law is: Electric forces can be superimposed (addition of vectors) is called the permittivity constant. Consider the space surrounding a charge q1. Any charge q placed in that space will experience an electric force. We can calculate the electric force acting on q at any point in space. The collection of all these force vectors is the electric field created by a charge q1.
