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1st year of post-compulsory secondary education
Electrical phenomena
José Luis San Emeterio
 ELEC 
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1.2 The electrostatic pendulum

We will try to measure electric force with the help of an instrument which is easy to understand: the electrostatic pendulum. We shall see how this instrument lets us measure the force acting on a body. You can graduate the magnitude of the force acting on the pendulum on the right.

 

 













When you click on next you will see how to use this pendulum to measure the force between two charged bodies.


Whether you modify the mass (and thus the weight) or you modify the horizontal force, the angle varies and equilibrium is reached among the three forces acting on the bob of the pendulum:

 

 

The force applied F, the tension of the string T, and the weight of the body P.

 

Electric force
What we already know
Coulomb's law
More than two charged particles
Conclusions
The concept of field intensity
Field intensity
Lines of force
Conclusions
Potential energy and potential
What are these magnitudes?
Superposition. Work in the field
Conclusions
Potential, field and the movement of charged particles
Relation between field intensity and potential
Movement of charged particles
Conclusions
Evaluation