Charge & Coulomb's Law

 

Coulomb's Law

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Defines Coulomb's law and calculates an example using a three-charge system.

Coulomb's Law defined, as well as ε0. Examples of Coulomb's Law are shown with an animation of a Van de Graff generator.

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History of Electricity

Electromagnetism through history; standard model; electric charge.

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Coulomb's Law and Superposition

Statement; superposition for point charges and distributions; SI vs. cgs units; force from charged rod; Taylor expansions.

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Work and Energy of Charges

Work required to move charge; potential energy of configuration.

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Electric Charge

Explanation of electrical charge, with historical background; value of the elementary charge of protons and electrons; includes charge quantization and conservation.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Principle of Superposition

Introduces the principle of superposition for electric force and works an example using three charges.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Charge, Coulomb's Law, and Electric Field

Introduction to charge and how it causes force via Coulomb's Law; description of resulting electromagnetic field.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Electric Field of Two Point Charges

Calculate electric field on axis of two point charges.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Hydrogen Atom Forces

Calculate the strengths of the electromagnetic and gravitational forces between the electron and proton in a hydrogen atom; qualitatively compare to the forces between two planets.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Electric Force on an Oil Drop

Find the mass and charge of an oil drop using electrostatics; solution explains significance of Millikan's oil-drop experiment.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Moving Charge in an Electric Field

Determine the motion and vertical deflection of a charged particle in a constant electric field.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Force in a Charge Triangle

Determine the electric force on a point charge due to two other charges.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Two Charged Pendula

Determine the equilibrium separation between two pendula with charged masses; use this to calculate the charge of the masses.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Electric Field from Unlike Charges

Identify where the electric field due to a positive and a negative point charge goes to zero.

  • 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2007
    Prof. John Belcher, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Prof. Robert Redwine, Prof. Bruce Knuteson, Prof. Gunther Roland, Prof. Bolek Wyslouch, Dr. Brian Wecht, Prof. Eric Katsavounidis, Prof. Robert Simcoe, Prof. Joseph Formaggio, Andy Neely, Matthew Strafuss, Prof. Eric Hudson, Dr. Sen-Ben Liao

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Gravitational and Electric Forces

Finding ratio for electron and proton; distance to balance; gravity on large scales.

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Modified Electron Charge

Ratio of electric to gravitational forces between earth and moon for smaller electron charge; stable system.

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Effect of Two Point Charges

Finding position of third charge for F = 0; potential energy of third charge and effect of perturbation.

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Third Type of Charge

Determining experimentally whether an object carries a purported third charge.

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Fields of Point Charges

For triangular arrangement of charges, finding the E-field, the force on a charge, and the motion of a charge.

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Molecules

Video animation showing the interaction of four equal charges: Two positive and two negative. Mention of Pauli and van der Waals forces.

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Interactive Molecules 2D

Applet simulating the interaction of large numbers of positive and negative charges in a two-dimensional space.

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Interactive Molecules 3D

Applet simulating the interaction of large numbers of positive and negative charges in a three-dimensional space.

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Lattices 2D

Interactive applet simulating the interactions of charged particles in a two-dimensional space.

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Lattices 3D

Interactive applet simulating the interactions of charged particles in a three-dimensional space.

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Colliding Lattices

Interactive applet simulating the behavior of two lattices of charged particles as they collide with one another.

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Charges Interacting Inside a Pentagon-Shaped Box

Applet simulating the interaction between 10 positively charged particles contained in a pentagon.

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The Capacitor

Applet simulating the behavior of the charges inside the plates of a parallel plate capacitor.

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The Electrostatic Force Experiment

Applet simulating the behavior of a conducting sphere placed between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor as it is being charged

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The Electrostatic Zoo

Interactive applet simulates interaction between charged particles, with ability to view field lines and equipotential lines for the particles.

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The Electrostatic Videogame

Applet in which the player tries to navigate a simple maze by changing the value of a point charge between positive and negative.

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