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Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package
written by Anne Cox, Wolfgang Christian, and Francisco Esquembre
This resource is a collection of EJS (Easy Java Simulation) models of electrostatics.  Students can move charges around and see the force, observe the electric field generated by charge configurations, and observe the motion of test particles in electric fields. Also included are instructor's guides and student worksheets to supplement the simulations (See "Documents" for supplementary materials.)

Editor's Note: This package was created for use in middle school and 9th grade physical science, but the models can easily be adapted for high school physics courses. SEE ANNOTATIONS for additional content support on Coulomb's Law and charge interactions.

This item was created with Easy Java Simulations (EJS), a modeling tool that allows users without formal programming experience to generate computer models and simulations. To run the simulation, simply click the Java Archive file below. To modify or customize the model, See Related Materials for detailed instructions on installing and running the EJS Modeling and Authoring Tool.

Please note that this resource requires at least version 1.5 of Java (JRE).
14 supplemental documents are available
1 source code document is available
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Practices
- Active Learning
= Modeling
Electricity & Magnetism
- DC Circuits
- Electric Fields and Potential
= Electric Field
- Electrostatics
= Coulomb's Law
- High School
- Lower Undergraduate
- Middle School
- Instructional Material
= Activity
= Simulation
Appropriate Courses Categories Ratings
- Physical Science
- Physics First
- Conceptual Physics
- Algebra-based Physics
- AP Physics
- Lesson Plan
- Activity
- Assessment
- New teachers
  • Currently 3.7/5

Rated 3.7 stars by 3 people

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Intended Users:
Educator
Learner
Formats:
application/java
application/pdf
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a GNU General Public License Version 3 license. Additional information is available.
Rights Holder:
Wolfgang Christian
Type:
Java Archive file
PACSs:
01.50.hv
07.05.Tp
Keywords:
Ejs, OSP, dipole, electric force, field vectors, multipole, test charge
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created December 1, 2009 by Anne Cox
Record Updated:
January 18, 2018 by Wolfgang Christian
Last Update
when Cataloged:
December 1, 2009
Other Collections:

Applets

Author: Wolfgang
Posted: January 18, 2018 at 11:39AM
Source: The Open Source Physics collection

Unfortunately, web browsers no longer support Java Applets so the ready to run applet pages  pages will no longer work.  You can, however, complete the exercises if you run the Java programs if you have Java installed on your computer.  Download the jar file and double click on that file to run the Java program.


Apple users may need to lower your security setting to allow program from unidentified developers to run.  Even then, you will need to right-click on the jar to authorize that program to run.  This security feature on Apple computers only needs to be done the first time the program is run.

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AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

11. Common Themes

11B. Models
  • 6-8: 11B/M1. Models are often used to think about processes that happen too slowly, too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly. They are also used for processes that are too vast, too complex, or too dangerous to study.

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (1993 Version)

4. THE PHYSICAL SETTING

G. Forces of Nature
  • 4G (9-12) #3.  There are two kinds of charges?positive and negative. Like charges repel one another, opposite charges attract. In materials, there are almost exactly equal proportions of positive and negative charges, making the materials as a whole electrically neutral. Negative charges, being associated with electrons, are far more mobile in materials than positive charges are. A very small excess or deficit of negative charges in a material produces noticeable electric forces.

NSES Content Standards

Con.B: Physical Science
  • 9-12: Motions & Forces
The Physics Classroom: Coulomb's Law (Editor: Caroline Hall)
Date: 07/08/2010

Middle school teachers may want to revisit Coulomb's Law before presenting this lesson. This interactive tutorial is very beneficial in explaining force as a vector quantity, how to determine the direction of electrical force vectors, and content support in calculations related to Coulomb's Law. It is part of The Physics Classroom collection.

The Physics Classroom: Coulomb's Law (html)

This resource is part of 2 Physics Front Topical Units.


Topic: "Static" Electricity
Unit Title: Electric Field

This outstanding resource integrates Java-based models of electrostatics with standards-based lesson plans and student worksheets. Your students will have fun moving charges around to investigate interaction of charged particles and watch as electric field lines are generated. The worksheets offer them structured guidance.

Link to Unit:

Topic: "Static" Electricity
Unit Title: Electric Field

The concept of electric field can be very difficult for beginners. This package of Java simulations allows students to move charges around and see the force; observe the electric field generated by charge configurations; and observe the motion of test particles in electric fields. Includes instructor's guides and printable student worksheets. The package was created for use in middle school and 9th grade physical science, but can be adapted for high school conceptual physics.

Link to Unit:
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link
AIP Format
A. Cox, W. Christian, and F. Esquembre, Computer Program COULOMB'S LAW AND ELECTRIC FIELD PACKAGE, Version 1.0 (2009), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425).
AJP/PRST-PER
A. Cox, W. Christian, and F. Esquembre, Computer Program COULOMB'S LAW AND ELECTRIC FIELD PACKAGE, Version 1.0 (2009), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425>.
APA Format
Cox, A., Christian, W., & Esquembre, F. (2009). Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425
Chicago Format
Cox, A, W. Christian, and F. Esquembre. "Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package." Version 1.0. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425 (accessed 9 September 2024).
MLA Format
Cox, Anne, Wolfgang Christian, and Francisco Esquembre. Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package. Vers. 1.0. Computer software. 2009. Java (JRE) 1.5, Java Archive file.9 Sep. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425>.
BibTeX Export Format
@misc{ Author = "Anne Cox and Wolfgang Christian and Francisco Esquembre", Title = {Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package}, Month = {December}, Year = {2009} }
Refer Export Format

%A Anne Cox %A Wolfgang Christian %A Francisco Esquembre %T Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package %D December 1, 2009 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425 %O 1.0 %O Java Archive file %O application/java %O Java Archive file

EndNote Export Format

%0 Computer Program %A Cox, Anne %A Christian, Wolfgang %A Esquembre, Francisco %D December 1, 2009 %T Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package %7 1.0 %8 December 1, 2009 %9 Java Archive file %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9683&DocID=1425


Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

This resource and its subdocuments is stored in 25 shared folders.

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Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package:

Is Based On Easy Java Simulations Modeling and Authoring Tool

The Easy Java Simulations Modeling and Authoring Tool is needed to explore the computational model used in the Coulomb's Law and Electric Field Package.

relation by Anne Cox
Is Part Of https://www.compadre.org/osp/search/categories.cfm?t=ModSearch

A database of Easy Java Simulations categorized by subject. It is part of the OSP (Open Source Physics) Project.

relation by Caroline Hall

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