Coulomb's Law - Directions

 

How it Works:

Using the Coulomb's Law Concept Builder is quite simple. You will be presented with information regarding the electrical force of interaction between two charged objects. You will then be asked to determine the new electrical force that would result if one or more of the objects's charges and/or separation distance were changed by some factor. Answer the question by typing the new force into the provided answer box. Once you are satisfied with your answer, tap on the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated.

Your goal is to earn "Stars" and to complete one or more activities. Stars are earned when you show success on a particular question. Once you show success on all the questions for a particular activity, you will earn the trophy for that activity.
 

Earning Stars

When you start up any of the activities, the number of questions for that activity are shown in the Progress Report area of the Concept Builder. You will notice that there is either a Yellow or a Red background for each question number. When starting up a difficulty level, the background color is Yellow. Answering a "Yellow" question correctly earns you a star for that question number. However, answering it incorrectly turns the background color to Red. A question number with a Red background must be correctly answered twice (without a miss) in order to earn a star. 
 

Getting Help

You will notice that there is a Help Me button underneath the Progress Report. You should learn to use this feature of the program. It's how you can turn an exercise in answering questions into an exercise in learning. Tapping on the Help Me button will open a page with help that is specific to each question. Of course, the Help pages are only helpful if you read them. So take the time to read them. Each Help page contains four sections: a discussion of the Fundamentals, a display of the various Questions in the Question Group, a section titled "How to Think About This Situation", and a set of links to resources in our Tutorial section. You should pay attention to the sectoin titled How to Think About This Situation. You will find what you need to know in the two or three paragraphs in this section. You will also become a better Physics student for doing that. That is, after all, the goal of such an activity as Coulomb's Law.
 

Thanks for being patient with the Directions. Happy learning!