2. Reactions between atomic nuclei are inhibited by the need for the nuclei to overcome the repulsive force that acts between any pair of similarly charged particles.
At high temperatures, nuclei move sufficiently fast to be able to overcome the Coulomb barrier.
The greater the nuclear charge, the higher is the temperature that is required for nuclear reactions to occur.
2. Nuclear excitation caused by the time-dependent long-ranged electric field acting between colliding nuclei.
Theoretically, the Coulomb force between the positively charged colliding nuclei is well understood, and the interaction is calculable exactly.
Coulomb excitation usually is the dominant reaction in nuclear scattering, and even occurs at low bombarding energies where the separation of the nuclei is sufficiently large that the short-ranged nuclear force does not act.
2. A process in which a molecule moving with high velocity strikes a solid and the electrons that bond the molecule are torn off rapidly in violent collisions with the electrons of the solid; as a result, the molecule is suddenly transformed into a cluster of charged atomic constituents that then separate under the influence of their mutual Coulomb repulsion.
Coulomb explosions are most commonly studied using a particle accelerator, normally employed in nuclear physics research, to produce a beam of fast molecular ions that are directed onto a solid-foil target.
2. The electrostatic field around a charged particle or object.
2. A scalar point function equal to the work per unit charge done against the Coulomb force in transferring a particle bearing an infinitesimal positive charge from infinity to a point in the field of a specific charge distribution.
2. A collision of two charged particles in which the Coulomb force is the dominant interaction.
2. The electrostatic force of attraction exerted by one charged particle onto another charged particle of the opposite sign.
3. The tendency of bodies to draw together when carrying opposite charges of electricity.
If the charges are of the same sign, then the force is repulsive; if they are of opposite signs, the force is attractive.
The strength of the force is described by Coulomb's law or a law that was formulated by Charles Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806), French physicist, which describes the electric forces between charged objects.
The law states that:
- like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other,
- the attraction or repulsion acts along the line between the two charges,
- the size of the force varies inversely as the square of the distance between the two charges,
- the size of the force is proportional to the value of each charge.
3. A force on a charged particle resulting from an electrostatic field, equal to the electric field vector times the charge of the particle.
4. Like charges in close proximity produce forces of repulsion between them; consequently, if two surfaces bear appreciable and approximately equal densities of charged groups on their surfaces appreciable forces of repulsion may occur between them.
The range of these forces is determined primarily by the ionic strength of the intervening medium, forces being of minimal range at high ionic strength.
The forces are effective over approximately twice the double layer of their thickness.
It includes the forces between two charged particles; such as, between electrons and protons, that according to Coulomb's law is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them and which is either repulsive or attractive, to each other depending on the relationship of the charges.
One coulomb is the quantity of electricity conveyed by a current of one ampere in one second.