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What States That Like Charges Repel And Opposite Charges Attract.

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1 Year agoGrade
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1 Year ago

The statement "Like charges repel and opposite charges attract" is explained by Coulomb's Law in electrostatics.
Explanation:
1. Coulomb's Law states that the force between two electric charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Mathematically:
F=k∣q1q2∣r2F = k \frac{{|q_1 q_2|}}{{r^2}}
where:
o FF is the force between the charges,
o q1q_1 and q2q_2 are the magnitudes of the charges,
o rr is the distance between the charges,
o kk is Coulomb's constant.
2. Nature of the Force:
o When two charges are of the same sign (both positive or both negative), the product q1q2>0q_1 q_2 > 0, and the force is repulsive. This causes the charges to push away from each other.
o When two charges are of opposite signs (one positive and one negative), the product q1q2<0q_1 q_2 < 0, and the force is attractive. This causes the charges to pull toward each other.
Summary:
The principle that like charges repel and opposite charges attract arises from the behavior of the electrostatic force described by Coulomb's Law. This fundamental property governs the interactions between charged particles.