By Lauren Altmeyer
Table of Contents
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
Parents and
Childhood
Education
Military Career
Research
Coulomb’s Law
Definition
Equation
Questions
1
2
3
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
Parents and Childhood
Education
Military Career
Research
Table of
Contents
Parents and Childhood
• Born June 14, 1736 in Angouleme, France
• Parents were Henry Coulomb and Catherine
Bajet
• Moved to Paris with his family shortly after
birth
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Schooling
• Attended the College Mazarin
– Revieved the best available teaching in math,
astronomy, botany, and mathematics
• In 1760, Coulomb began attending École du
Génie at Mézières
• Graduated in November 1761 with a degree in
engineering
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Military Career
• Became an engineer in the Corps du Genie,
the French army, in 1761 as a Lieutenant .
• Served for 20 hours in a variety of positions
• At the start of the French Revolution in 1789,
Coulomb became highly involved in his
scientific work
• In 1791, he retired from the Corps du Genie.
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Coulomb’s Research
• In 1777, Coulomb created the Torsion Balance,
a device used to measure electric charge.
Used to measure the static
forces between charges and
established
Coulomb’s Law
Consists of a bar suspended in the middle by a
thin fiber. When a charge is brought near the
bar, the bar will twist. The magnitude of the
force if proportional to the angle of the bar.
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Coulomb’s Torsion Experiment
• Coulomb’s torsion balance was an insulating rod with a metalcoated ball attached to one end, suspended by a silk thread.
• The ball was charged with a known charge of static electricity,
and a second charged ball of the same polarity was brought
near it.
• The two charged balls repelled one another, twisting the fiber
through a certain angle, which could be read from a scale on
the instrument.
• By knowing how much force it took to twist the fiber through
a given angle, Coulomb was able to calculate the force
between the balls.
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Coulomb’s Law
Explanation
Equation
Table of
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k= 1/4πЄ0
9
2
2
=9x10 Nm /C
Є0 = permittivity of Space
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Coulomb’s Equation
F=
1
2
2
kq q /r
F=force
k=Coulomb’s Constant
q= charges of objects
r= distance between objects
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Coulomb’s Law
• Law that describes the attraction between
two charged particles
– Opposite charges will produce an attractive force
while similar charges will produce a repulsive
force.
– The greater the charges, the greater the force
– The greater the distance between them, the
smaller the force.
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Questions
1
2
3
Table of
Contents
Question 1
In what year was Coulomb born?
A: 1680
B: 1492
C: 1736
Question 2
Which is the correct equation for
Coulomb’s Law?
A:
F= kq1q2/r2
B:
F= kq1q2/r
C:
F= kq1q2r2
Question 3
What is the name of the invention that
Coulomb used to measure electric charge?
A: Van de Graff Generator
B: Torsion Balance
C: Leiden Jar
Correct!!!
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