Student Exploration: Coulomb Force (Static)
Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
Vocabulary: Coulomb’s law, electrostatic force, vector
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.). Have you ever taken clothes out of
the dryer and found a sock stuck to your pants? Static cling is an example of electrostatic forces, or the
forces that exist between charged objects.
1. How do you think the sock and pants became charged?

2. Suppose two socks acquire the same charge. Do you think they would stick together? Explain:

Gizmo Warm-up
As clothes are tumbled in a dryer, electrons are rubbed off
some items, giving them a positive charge, and deposited
on other items, giving them a negative charge. These
charged items exert electrostatic forces on one another.
You can explore these forces with the Coulomb Force
(Static) Gizmo.
In its initial settings, the Gizmo shows two objects that each have a charge (q) of 10.0 × 10-4 C (coulombs).
Turn on the Show force vector checkboxes for objects A and B. The arrows coming from each object are
vectors that represent the electrostatic force. The direction and length of each vector show the direction
and magnitude (strength) of each force.
1. Are the vectors for objects A and B pointing together or away from each other?

2. Are objects A and B attracted together or repelled apart?

3. Compare the lengths of the vectors. What do you notice?