Coulomb Lab

This app is designed for science students, Physics teachers, and anyone interested in electrostatics. It provides a virtual lab setup to test Coulomb's law.

Simple Experiment:

1. Charge both spheres with known values.
2. Stabilize the spheres and measure the distance between their centers.
3. Measure the vertical angle of the strings supporting the spheres.
4. Calculate the electric force using Coulomb's law.
5. Calculate the electric force using Newton's laws.
6. Verify that both results are consistent within the margin of error.

A Bit More Complex Experiment:

1. Charge both spheres using the Van de Graaff generator (ignore the charge values, as they are not known in a real experiment).
2. Stabilize both spheres and measure the distance between their centers.
3. Measure the vertical angle of the strings supporting the spheres.
4. Calculate the electric force between the two spheres using Newton's laws.
5. Repeat the experiment for different distances.
6. Plot the electric force as a function of the inverse of the distance squared.
7. Verify that you obtain a linear relationship, which confirms the 1/r^2 law.

Challenge Experiment:

How can you test that the electric force is proportional to the product of the charges when the values of the charges are unknown (as in real life)?

Clue: You'll need both the Van de Graaff generator and a hand tool.

Known bug : Sometimes a sphere gets trapped above the vertical rod. I kind of like that. Play with the Van de Graaff generator to unlock the sphere or reset the simulator.