In a thundercloud there may be an electric charge of 43 C near the top and −43 C near the bottom. These charges are separated by approximately 1.7 km. What is the magnitude of the electric force between them? The Coulomb constant is 8.98755 × 109 N · m2 /C 2 . Answer in units of N

Explanation:

The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two charged objects is given by Coulomb's law:

where:

is the Coulomb's constant

are the two charges  of the two objects

r is the separation between the two objects

In this problem, the two objects are the two clouds, so we have:

(charge of the 1st cloud)

(charge of the 2nd cloud)

r = 1.7 km = 1700 m (distance between the two clouds)

So the force between them is

So, the magnitude of the force is (neglecting the negative sign which indicates that the force is attractive)