Question

What is the magnitude of the electric force between a proton and an electron when they are at a distance of 4.09 angstrom from each other?

Answer 1

Answer:

$F=1.38*10^{-9}N$

Explanation:

According to Coulomb's law, the magnitude of the electric force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitude of both charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates them:

$F=\frac{kq_1q_2}{d^2}$

Here k is the Coulomb constant. In this case, we have $q_1=-e$, $q_2=e$ and $d=4.09*10^-10m$. Replacing the values:

$F=\frac{8.99*10^{9}\frac{N\cdot m^2}{C^2}(-1.6*10^{-19}C)(1.6*10^{-19}C)}{(4.09*10^{-10})^2}\\F=-1.38*10^{-9}N$

The negative sign indicates that it is an attractive force. So, the magnitude of the electric force is:

$F=1.38*10^{-9}N$