Coulomb’s law for electrostatic force between two point charges and Newton’s law for gravitational force between two stationary point masses, both have inverse-square dependence on the distance between the charges and masses respectively. (a) Compare the strength of these forces by determining the ratio of their magnitudes (i) for an electron and a proton and (ii) for two protons. (b) Estimate the accelerations of electron and proton due to the electrical force of their mutual attraction when they are `1Å (=10^(-10)m)` apart? (mp = `1.67 xx 10^(-27) kg, me = 9.11 xx 10^(-31) kg)`.

Explanation

(a) (i) `|(F_(e ))/(F_(G))| = 2.4 xx 10^(19)`
(ii) `| (F_(e ) )/( F_(G))| = 1.3 xx 10^(36)`
(b) `a_(e ) = (e^(2))/( 4pi epsilon_(0)r^(2) m_() e)= 2.5 xx 10^(22) m //s^(2) , a_(p) = ( e^(2))/( 4pi epsilon_(0)r^(2) m_(p))= 1.4 xx 10^(19) m//s^(2)`