Question

If i were to find the electrostatic force between a Na+ ion and a Cl- ion, should i use the charge of an electron (1.6x10^-19) as my value of q?

Answer 1

Yes.

Answer 2

fazan's rule.. rings any bells..?? covalent character of ionic bond.. i guess ans should be close (extremly close in this case).. but since it is not pure ionic.. (though highly ionic..)

Answer 3

ans would be quite accurate.. so you can use it

Answer 4

@CliffSedge ah thanks for confirming that...also, if i would change the Na+ and Cl- into Li+ and Br-, would i get the same electrostatic force? (the distance between the two is 0.5nm)

Answer 5

@yash2651995 hmmm we didn't discuss that particular theory/principle but i guess its very relevant to the problem...thanks for sharing! :D

Answer 6

thats the point.. covalent character changes.. thus net charge isnt of a complete electron transfer.. partial charges develop.. some are close and some are not..

fazan's rule states that every ionic bond has some covalent character.. large anions has more covalent character

but now i have a doubt.. in electrostatics' basics, we say that charge of an eletron is least charge possible.. then how does this partial charge devlop?

Answer 7

I doubt this question is meant to explore the change in force when considering the other protons and electrons present in each ion.
Take the simplifying assumption: a +1 charge is a +1 charge, a -1 charge is a -1 charge.
Don't overthink it.

Answer 8

i was just talking about absolute values.. sorry, i got diverted from question =P

Answer 9

@CliffSedge ah so it doesn't change?

Answer 10

Not appreciably. Unless you're doing some pretty advanced stuff where you have to take quantum mechanics into account, you can just call a charge a charge and not worry about the details.

Answer 11

Especially if you are using 1.6x10^-19 C as your charge value for electron/proton. With only 2 significant figures, you wouldn't notice any other effects at that level of precision.

Answer 12

oh is see...i'm just taking up physics fundamentals for engineering (i have no interest in becoming a physics major lol) thanks for the info ^_^

Answer 13

I*

Answer 14

yw