Attractive and repulsive force
Learning objectives
- To observe how a single charge will experience a force due to the presence of a single, fixed charge.
- To illustrate that the force is always tangent to the lines of force.
- In case of attractive force, to make a link between gravitational force and electrical force (orbit, ellipse, attraction ...).
The force depends on the distance from the fixed charge.
In the case of two particles of the same sign, the test particle is accelerated outward.
If the particles have opposite charges, the test particle's typical trajectory is an ellipse, similar to gravitational orbits.
The force is always tangent to the field lines.
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