Coulomb's law and different charges

[PinkFlamingo]

If you have two charges, one positive and one negative, you can find the electrical force using coulomb's law. What happens to the charges if you touch them together and then separate them again? Do they become like charges, and does the magnitude change?

Thanks

Mandy

 

[cookiemonster]

You really haven't specified a physical situation, so who knows. But neutral objects exert no electric force on each other.

cookiemonster

 

[PinkFlamingo]

Two small, identical, point-like conducting spheres have charges q1=-2nC and q2=6.00 nC, The two spheres are brought momentarily into contact and then separated by a distance of 3.00 cm. Now what is the magnitude of the electrical force on each? Are the forces now attractive or repulsive?