Lab Manual - Coulomb's Law

Coulomb’s Law
PHYS272: Electric & Magnetic Interactions
American University of the Middle East (AUM) – Physics Department

Coulomb’s Law
1. Objective
Verify the inverse square relationship between the electrostatic force and the distance using
the Coulombs balance and an electrostatic charging source.
2. Theory overview
When charging two objects, an electrostatic force 𝐹𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 will be produced between the
objects according to Coulomb’s law:
𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝑘 (1)
𝑑2
where 𝑘 is the Coulomb’s constant, 𝑞1 is the charge of object 1, 𝑞2 is the charge of object 2
and 𝑑 is the distance between the two objects.
To investigate the electrostatic force between charged objects, you will use the setup of a
Coulomb Balance shown in Figure 1. A conductive sphere is mounted on a rod,
counterbalanced, and suspended from a thin torsion wire. An identical sphere is mounted on
a slide assembly so it can be positioned at various distances from the suspended sphere. The
electrostatic force between the spheres causes the torsion wire to twist. By finding this angle
(twist angle) you will be able to find the force (measured) directly proportional to the
electrostatic force between the spheres:
𝐾𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝜃𝑎𝑣𝑔
𝐹𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 = (2)
𝑥
where 𝜃𝑎𝑣𝑔 is the average of the twist angle you are going to read, 𝐾𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 is the torsion
constant and 𝑥 is the distance from center of the wire to the center of the suspended sphere.
The Coulomb’s law (equation 1) is the main equation you will investigate the validity of,
where you will change the distance between the charges and read the value of the force from
the torsion. Keeping this in mind, the equation can be put into a linear form as:
1
𝐹 = 𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2 +0
𝑑2
2
3. Equipment
Figure 1: Equipment Separated to Show Components.
4. Experimental Setup and Procedures

1. Set up the Coulomb Balance.
2. Be sure that the spheres are fully discharged (touch them with a grounded probe,
connected with the power supply as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Grounding and charging both spheres.
3. Move the sliding sphere as far as possible from the suspended sphere.
4. Set the torsion dial to 0 Degrees. Zero the torsion balance by appropriately rotating the
bottom torsion wire retainer until the pendulum assembly is at its zero displacement position
as indicated by the index marks in Figure 3.
3
Figure 3: Setting the angle to zero.
5. With the spheres at maximum separation charge both the spheres to a potential of 5 kV,
using the charging probe. (One terminal of the power supply should be grounded as shown
in Figure 4).
Figure 4: Setting voltage in power supply.
6. Immediately after charging the spheres, turn the power supply off to avoid high voltage
leakage effects.
7. Position the sliding sphere at a position of 20 cm (you will notice that the suspended
sphere begins to twist).
4
8. Adjust the torsion knob as necessary to balance the forces and bring the pendulum back
to its alignment position as shown in Figure 5. Record the angle 𝜃 in Table 1.
Figure 5: Direction to adjust the torsion wire.
9. Repeat steps 7 & 8 and complete the table according to each value of the distance d and
repeat your measurements two more times to be able to calculate the average angle value.
𝑭𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅
d (cm) 1/d2(m-2) 𝜽𝟏 (°) 𝜽𝟐 (°) 𝜽𝟑 (°) 𝜽𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 (°) (N)
22
18
13
Table 1: Twist Angle vs. Distance
5
5. Data analysis
1. Calculate the measured force (using equation 2). Fill your values in the table. Assume
following values.
𝐾𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 1.4 × 10−6 N⁄degree ; 𝑞1 = 𝑞2 = 2.19 × 10−8 C; 𝑥 = 0.1 m
2. What is the relationship between the calculated force and the distance d?
3. List four sources of errors in this experiment that affected your results.
4. Use excel to draw a linear graph from this data. We assumed that each sphere is
charged to 2.19 × 10−8 C. Using the slope of the linear graph, can you confirm if this
is correct?
6. Notes and Comments

✓ When we are charging two spheres, we have to be careful to position the spheres to
the maximum displacement from each other.
✓ A torsion balance gives a direct and reasonably accurate measurement of the
Coulomb force between charged objects. Torsion is the twisting of an object due to
an applied torque. The unit of the torsion force is Newton.
✓ The suspended sphere and the mounted sphere have the same dimensions which
means are identical.
✓ We use the ground probe to discharge the sphere and the charging probe to charge
the sphere.

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Coulomb’s Law

PHYS272: Electric & Magnetic Interactions

American University of the Middle East (AUM) – Physics Department

Figure 1: Equipment Separated to Show Components.

4. Experimental Setup and Procedures

Figure 2: Grounding and charging both spheres.

Figure 4: Setting voltage in power supply.

Figure 5: Direction to adjust the torsion wire.

Table 1: Twist Angle vs. Distance

𝐾𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 1.4 × 10−6 N⁄degree ; 𝑞1 = 𝑞2 = 2.19 × 10−8 C; 𝑥 = 0.1 m

6. Notes and Comments

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