What is Electric force: Definition and 247 Discussions

Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force is carried by electromagnetic fields composed of electric fields and magnetic fields, and it is responsible for electromagnetic radiation such as light. It is one of the four fundamental interactions (commonly called forces) in nature, together with the strong interaction, the weak interaction, and gravitation. At high energy, the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a single electroweak force.

Electromagnetic phenomena are defined in terms of the electromagnetic force, sometimes called the Lorentz force, which includes both electricity and magnetism as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. The electromagnetic force plays a major role in determining the internal properties of most objects encountered in daily life. The electromagnetic attraction between atomic nuclei and their orbital electrons holds atoms together. Electromagnetic forces are responsible for the chemical bonds between atoms which create molecules, and intermolecular forces. The electromagnetic force governs all chemical processes, which arise from interactions between the electrons of neighboring atoms. Electromagnetism is very widely used in modern technology, and electromagnetic theory is the basis of electric power engineering and electronics including digital technology.
There are numerous mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic field. Most prominently, Maxwell's equations describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated and altered by each other and by charges and currents.
The theoretical implications of electromagnetism, particularly the establishment of the speed of light based on properties of the "medium" of propagation (permeability and permittivity), led to the development of special relativity by Albert Einstein in 1905.

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  1. S

    Solve Electric Force Homework: Find Initial Charge on Each Object

    Homework Statement Two objects are identical and small enough that their sizes can be ignored relative to the distance between them, which is 0.296 m. In a vacuum, each object carries a different charge, and they attract each other with a force of 1.80 N. The objects are brought into contact...
  2. W

    Need help with electric force and velocity.

    Homework Statement A 14.5 cm-radius thin ring carries a uniformly distributed 13.6 uC\ charge. A small 6.1 g sphere with a charge of 5.0 uC is placed exactly at the center of the ring and given a very small push so it moves along the ring axis (+ x axis). How fast will the sphere be moving...
  3. O

    Electric Field and Object Mass: Solving for Unknowns

    Homework Statement The electric field between the plates of a parallel-plate capacitor is horizontal, uniform and has a magnitude E. A small object with a charge of -2.60 µC is attached to the string. Assume that the tension in the string is 0.350 N, and the angle it makes with the vertical...
  4. H

    Solving for Electric Force: A 15cm Ring, 20uC Charge

    Homework Statement A ring with a 15cm radius and with a uniform charge of 20 micro coulombs is in the yz-plane with the origin at its center. What is the force on a -3 micro coulombs charge on the x-axis at x=5cm? Homework Equations E=kQx/(R^2 + x^2)^(3/2) F=QE The Attempt at a...
  5. R

    Electric force and electric charge

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  6. M

    Electric Force & Gaussian Sphere: Need Help Understanding?

    Our professor said that when a metallic body or a conductor is inserted inside a gaussian sphere, it will not experience anykind of electric force? But i don't understand why? Any help will be appreciable.
  7. E

    Electric force magnitude of NH3

    Homework Statement The structure of NH3 the molecule is approximately that of an equilateral tetrahedron, with three H+ ions forming the base and an N3− ion at the apex of the tetrahedron. The length of each side is 1.64 10-10 m. Calculate the magnitude of the electric force that acts on...
  8. S

    Electric force between two point charges

    Homework Statement Two identical spheres with mass m are hung from silk thread with length L. Each sphere has the same charge, so q1=q2=q. The radius of each sphere is very small compared to the distance between the two spheres, so they may be treated as point charges. Show that if the angle...
  9. B

    Electric Force on a charge effected by a non-uniform linear charge

    Ok, so here's the question. I've pretty much got it except I'm having trouble with one part of constructing the integral. The problem is... An insulator which lies between the positions -d\hat{z} and d\hat{z} has a nonuniform linear charge density \lambda = \lambda_{o}\frac{z}{d} . Find the...
  10. W

    Find the electric force exerted on one sphere by the other.

    Homework Statement 002 (part 1 of 2) 2.0 points Two identical conducting spheres are placed with their centers 0.3 m apart. One is given a charge of +1.3 × 10^−8 C and the other a charge of 1 × 10^−9 C. Find the electric force exerted on one sphere by the other. The value of the Coulomb...
  11. J

    Calculating Electric Force in Bohr Model of Hydrogen Atom

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  12. K

    Electric force acting on a single charge

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  13. fluidistic

    Is the electric force responsible for this phenomena?

    I just used some species in a salsa for a couscous. The species were in powder form. When I put them in contact with the water of the salsa, they spread over a large part of the water' surface. It reminded me the electrons of a negatively charged conductor. Whatever was the spice, the effect...
  14. D

    Electric force cant firgure this out.

    Two small plastic balls hang from threads of negligible mass. Each ball has a mass of 0.200 and a charge of magnitude q. The balls are attracted to each other, and the threads attached to the balls make an angle of 20.0 with the vertical, as shown in the figure...
  15. G

    How Do You Calculate the Electric Force Between Charges in Physics?

    Homework Statement Three positive charges are located in the x-y plane (see plot below), with Q1=3.10 μC, Q2=5.20 μC and Q3=6.30 μC. Note that the charges are located at grid intersections, and that the x and y coordinates are in cm. dynamically generated plot A. Calculate the magnitude of...
  16. D

    Electric force between two halves of a sphere

    Homework Statement (I'll be using k=1/4pi*permittivity of free space) Find the net force that the southern hemisphere of a uniformly charged sphere exerts on the northern hemisphere. Express the answer in terms of the radius R and the total charge Q. I tried to show how I attempted the...
  17. S

    Electric Force and Potential Energy Calculations

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  18. N

    Net electric force in particles in triangular formation

    Homework Statement Three positive point charges are arranged in a triangular pattern in a plane, as shown below. The Coulomb constant is 8.98755 × 109 N · m2/C2. Find the magnitude of the net electric force on the 2 nC charge. Answer in units of N. Homework Equations Fe = (kq1q2) / (d2)...
  19. P

    How Does Electric Force Affect a Proton's Energy and Momentum?

    [b]1. A proton has a mass 1.7x10^-27 kg and its speed is v=.969c. When an electric force acts on the proton and does 5.8x10^-9 J of work on the particle, what are the following values? A) Particle energy B) Particle Rest Energy C) Particle Momentum D) Particle Beta [b]2. Particle...
  20. D

    How Does Electric Force Compare to Gravitational Force in a Simple Atom?

    a simple atom is comprised of one electron and one proton, with a distance of R=0.5*10-10m between them 1) what is the electric force between them F=K(qq)/r2 = 28.8N ------------------------------ 2)how much smaller than the electric force is: a) the gravitational force of the...
  21. K

    Electric force problem (determining unknown position to make zero net force)

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  22. X

    Electric Force/ Electrical Fields

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  23. X

    Electric Force/ Electrical Fields

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  24. O

    Electric force between 2 parallel plates

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  25. M

    Uniform Electric Field Upward Electric Force Equals Weight. HELP

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  26. H

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  27. E

    Electric field and electric force

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  28. I

    Electrostatics - Magnitude and direction of electric force

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  29. W

    Electric force in electric field

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  30. C

    Electric force and free electrons

    Two point charges of -1.0 micro C and +1.0 micro C are fixed at opposite ends of a meterstick. Where could a) a free electron and b) a free proton be in electrostatic equilibrium? I'm guessing the answer is nowhere since there have to be opposite charges to be in equilibrium?
  31. T

    Finding the Net Electric Force on a Charge

    Homework Statement Three positive point charges are arranged in a triangular pattern in a plane, as shown below. The Coulomb constant is 8.98755*10^9 N · m^2/C^2. http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1052/electricforceproblemqp7.th.jpg http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php Find the magnitude...
  32. J

    How Do You Calculate the Net Electric Force on a Particle?

    Homework Statement Particle B, with positive charge q_a, fixed in the yz-plane at (0,d_2,d_2). What is the net force F on particle A (positive) due to this charge? Express your answer (a vector) using k, q_0, q_3, d_2, x hat, y hat, and z hat. Include only the force caused by particle B...
  33. G

    Location of zero net electric force

    Homework Statement Particle 0 experiences a repulsion from particle 1 and an attraction toward particle 2. For certain values of d_1 and d_2, the repulsion and attraction should balance each other, resulting in no net force. For what ratio d_1/d_2 is there no net force on particle 0...
  34. T

    Electric Force magnitude and direction

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  35. G

    Problem finding electric force

    Homework Statement Two small spheres with mass m = 14.3 are hung by silk threads of length L = 1.26 from a common point. When the spheres are given equal charges, so that , each thread hangs at an angle \theta = 22.0 from the vertical. A. Draw a diagram showing forces on the left...
  36. S

    Electric Force in the y-z plane

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  37. S

    Calculating Electric Force and Distance Between Two Charges

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  38. V

    Calculating Electric Force Between Charges in a Dielectric Medium

    Electric force question help please! I was just doing a question in my textbook and I got stuck on this question as my answer is no where near the given answer. Two charges of magnitude 0.24 μC and 0.29 μC are in a liquid dielectric with dielectric constant κ = 2.0. The charges are separated...
  39. L

    Using electric force to find the force of gravity

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  40. Z

    Electric Force between glass ball and rubber ball

    Homework Statement What is the electric force between a glass ball with 3.5 µC of charge and a rubber ball with -5.0 µC of charge when they are separated by 5 cm? Homework Equations Colombs Law: F(electric)=K((q(1)*q(2))/r^2) K=8.99E9 The Attempt at a Solution This seems like a...
  41. M

    Van de Graaff & electric force?

    Homework Statement A Van de Graaff generator is charged so that the electric field exerted at the top surface is 2.0× 10^6 N/C directed upwards. Find the a) the electric force exerted on a styrofoam peanut (q= 0.025μC) released at its surface, b) the gravitational force on the peanut, c) its...
  42. J

    Finding the Distance Between Electrons in Equilibrium: What is the Solution?

    Homework Statement An electron is released above the Earth's surface. A second electron directly below it exerts just enough of an electric force on the first electron to cancel the gravitational force on it. Find the distance between the two electrons. Homework Equations The...
  43. B

    Electric force angles problem

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  44. B

    How Do You Calculate the Electric Force on a Charge at the Corner of a Square?

    Homework Statement Four point charges are placed at the four corners of a square. Each side of the square has a length L. Find the magnitude of the electric force on q2 due to all three charges q1 , q2 , q3 and q4. Given L=1 and q= 1.38 μC. Answer in N...
  45. N

    What is the x-component of the electric field at the origin?

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  46. D

    Using electric force to calculate number of protons

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  47. R

    Finding the electric force on each sphere

    Dear experts, Please guide me along with this problem. Two identical small conducting spheres are separated by 0.60 m. The spheres carry different amounts of charge and each sphere experiences an attractive electric force of 10.8 N. The total charge on the two spheres is −24 μC. The two...
  48. M

    What is the relationship between electric force and distance between particles?

    - the electric force is inversely proportional to the square of the separation r between the particles and directed along the line joining them. - is proportional to the product of the charges q1 and q2 on the two particles. i don't understand wut does that mean, can someone please...
  49. 7

    How Is Electric Force Calculated on a Charged Plastic Stirrer Near a Wire?

    Homework Statement Your physics assignment is to figure out a way to use electricity to launch a small 6.0-cm-long plastic drink stirrer. You decide that you'll charge the little plastic rod by rubbing it with fur, then hold it near a long, charged wire. When you let go, the electric force...
  50. P

    What is the attractive electric force between the ions?

    [SOLVED] Electric Force Question The distance between neighboring singly charged sodium and chloride ions in crystals of table salt (NaCl) is 2.82 x 10^-10 m. What is the attractive electric force between the ions? By coulomb’s law, Electric force F = [1/4πεo] q1 q2/ r^2 = 9.0 x...
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