PHYS- | GIZMOS | Student Exploration: Coulomb Force (Static)

PHYS- | GIZMOS | Student Exploration: Coulomb Force (Static). 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 underwear? Static cling is an example of electrostatic forces, or the forces that exist between charged objects. 1. How do you think the sock and underwear became charged? The sock and the underwear became charged because they have different charges. 2. Suppose two socks acquire the same charge. Do you think they would stick together? No_ Explain: _Because they would repel each other since they have the same charge. ____ 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? _Away_ 2. Are objects A and B attracted together or repelled apart? ___________________________ 3. Compare the lengths of the vectors. What do you notice?