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Explain vector form of Coulomb’s law and its importance. Write some important points for vector form of Coulomb’s law.
Solution

Suppose, position vectors of $q_{1}$ and $q_{2}$ are $r_{1}$ and $r_{2}$ respectively as shown in figure (a).
Let, force acting on $q_{1}$ by $q_{2}$ is $\vec{F}_{12}$ and force on $q_{2}$ by $q_{1}$ is $\vec{F}_{21} \cdot$
If $1$and $2$ numbers are given to $q_{1}$ and $q_{2}$, then $\overrightarrow{r_{21}}$ is position vector from 1 to 2 and $\overrightarrow{r_{12}}$ is
position vector from $2$ to $1$ .
By using triangle method for vector addition,
$\overrightarrow{r_{1}}+\overrightarrow{r_{21}}=\overrightarrow{r_{2}}$
$\therefore \overrightarrow{r_{21}}=\overrightarrow{r_{2}}-\overrightarrow{r_{1}}$ and $\overrightarrow{r_{12}}=\overrightarrow{r_{1}}-\overrightarrow{r_{2}}=-\overrightarrow{r_{21}}$
and $\left|\overrightarrow{r_{12}}\right|=r_{12}$ also $\left|\overrightarrow{r_{21}}\right|=r_{21}$
$\therefore \vec{r}_{12}=\frac{r_{12}}{r_{12}}$ and $\hat{r}_{21}=\frac{\overrightarrow{r_{21}}}{r_{21}}$
Force acting on $q_{2}$ by $q_{1}$ '
$\overrightarrow{\mathrm{F}_{21}}=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \cdot \frac{q_{1} q_{2}}{r_{21}^{2}} \cdot \hat{r}_{21}$ and
Force acting on $q_{1}$ by $q_{2}$ '
$\overrightarrow{\mathrm{F}_{12}}=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \cdot \frac{q_{1} q_{2}}{r_{12}^{2}} \cdot \hat{r}_{12}$
but $\hat{r}_{12}=-\hat{r}_{21}$,
$\overrightarrow{\mathrm{F}_{21}}=-\overrightarrow{\mathrm{F}_{12}}$