electrostatic force

electrostatic +‎ force

electrostatic force (plural electrostatic forces)

1. (electricity) Coulomb force, the attraction or repulsion between particles based on their electric charge.
   • 1860 November 22, William Thompson, “Measurement of the electromotive force required to produce a spark in air between parallel metal plates at different distances”, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London‎, volume X, page 336:

     Relation between electrostatic force and variation of electric potential.—§ 7, otherwise stated, is equivalent to this:—the average component electrostatic force in the straight line of air between two points in the neighborhood of an electrified body is equal to their difference of potentials divided by their distance.

   • 1995, Joseph M. Crowley, “Electrostatic fundamentals”, in Jen-Shih Chang, Arnold J. Kelly, Joseph M. Crowley, editors, Handbook of Electrostatic Processes‎, page 10:

     Coulomb’s law describes the electrostatic forces exerted between pairs of charges, but practical situations are rarely that simple.