Question

Question: On what factors does the value of the constant K=1/4π€° depend?​

Answer 1

Coloumb's constant depends on the medium , force , distance and magnitude of the charges

Explanation:

• From the formula of electrostatic force between 2 charged particles q1 and q2 , separated by a distance d which is given by

        $F= \frac{1}{4\pi \varepsilon _o}\frac{q1q2}{d^2}$      ; it can be seen that $Kc= \frac{1}{4\pi \varepsilon _o}$ is referred to as  Coulomb's constant and is dependent on the amount of charges as well as the square of distance between the charges. Apart from this , it also depends on the electrostatic force.

• Another important factor on which value of Kc is dependent is the nature of the medium .
• $\varepsilon_o$ in Kc is the permittivity of free space where as $\varepsilon$ is the absolute permittivity of the medium.
• Both $\varepsilon_o$ and $\varepsilon$ depend on the dielectric constant of the medium and the relationship between them is given by $\varepsilon = \varepsilon _r \times \varepsilon _o$ where $\varepsilon _r$ is the dielectric constant of the medium.