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Topic: How do I interpreate the coloumb's law in chemistry (rather than Physics)  (Read 3139 times)

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Offline Eric_Zhang

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How do I interpreate the coloumb's law in chemistry (rather than Physics)
« on: September 19, 2022, 09:17:53 PM »
In other words, how should one interpreate the relationship between potential energy and force between two charges?

btw the version of coloumb's law we learned in undergrad chem is kq1q1/r, while in Physics it's usually kq1q2/r^2.
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Offline Meter

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Re: How do I interpreate the coloumb's law in chemistry (rather than Physics)
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2022, 02:17:24 AM »
k q1q2/r is the potential energy, whereas k q1q2/r^2 is the Coloumb force. Two different quantities.
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Offline Corribus

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Re: How do I interpreate the coloumb's law in chemistry (rather than Physics)
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2022, 11:42:24 AM »
Why do you think the interpretation should be different? Chemistry is just applied physics, so any use of Coulomb's Law in chemistry is ultimately a use in physics as well.
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Offline Enthalpy

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Re: How do I interpreate the coloumb's law in chemistry (rather than Physics)
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2022, 06:07:02 AM »
By differentiating the energy (1/R) over the distance, you get the force (1/R2).
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