Reading: Chapter 17 Electrostatics: Forces

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Four forces (agents of change) govern the interactions between all things in the Universe:

  Force           Couples with                  Strength    Range

Strong            quarks and particles made of  10,000      10**(-15) m
                     quarks

Electromagnetic   charged particles             100         unlimited

Weak              most particles                0.01        10**(-17) m

Gravitational     all particles                 10**(-34)   unlimited


Notes:

1.  Strength is the force between two protons separated by a distance
    ~ 2x10**(-15) m.
2.  The double asterisks "**" means superscript, e.g., 10**2 = 100.

CHARGES and COULOMB'S LAW

• Coulomb's Law

• Electric Charges

• Electric Field

• Gauss's Law