Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How does doubling the distance between two electric charges affect the electric force?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
electricity
Explanation of static electricity and its manifestations in everyday life.
According to Coulomb’s law, the magnitude of the electric force between two stationary charged objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.12
Because the force varies inversely as the square of the distance, doubling the distance between two electric charges causes the attraction or repulsion to decrease to one-fourth of its original value.1