Electric charges that are different attract each other. True False
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
True.
Opposite electric charges attract each other. This principle is based on Coulomb’s law, which describes the force between two charged objects. According to Coulomb’s law, the force FFF between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them:F=k∣q1⋅q2∣r2F = k \frac{{|q_1 \cdot q_2|}}{{r^2}}F=kr2∣q1⋅q2∣
Where:
- FFF is the magnitude of the force between the charges,
- q1q_1q1 and q2q_2q2 are the magnitudes of the charges,
- rrr is the distance between the charges, and
- kkk is Coulomb’s constant (8.99×109 N⋅m2/C28.99 \times 10^9 \, \text{N} \cdot \text{m}^2 / \text{C}^28.99×109N⋅m2/C2).
If the charges are of opposite sign (one positive and one negative), the force will be attractive. If the charges are of the same sign (both positive or both negative), the force will be repulsive. This means that opposite charges attract, while like charges repel each other. The attraction or repulsion also increases with the magnitude of the charges and decreases with the distance between them.
In simpler terms, positive charges are attracted to negative charges and vice versa. This behavior underlies many natural phenomena and is fundamental to how atoms and molecules interact. For example, in an atom, the negatively charged electrons are attracted to the positively charged nucleus, helping to keep the atom together.
In everyday life, you can observe this principle when a balloon is rubbed on your hair: it becomes negatively charged and can attract positively charged objects (like small pieces of paper) or even attract your hair due to the opposite charges.
