Electrical Attraction and Repulsion Related to Distance?

[Nano-Passion]

At what distance do unlike-charged ions stop attracting and start repelling? (I assume it can not keep attracting forever, unless outside force is applied to it).

At what distance do neutrally charged atoms start repelling each other? (Some momentum carrying them toward each other)

I've looked around and can't seem to find the answer to this. So in the premise that there is no answer:

Can we design an experiment to figure this out?

 

[Fightfish]

The answer is that you are looking at the phenomenon of electrostatic forces from a wrong perspective. There is no special distance at which attraction or repulsion sets in. They are continuous phenomena - like-charged ions always repel and unlikes always attract, regardless of the distance separating them. The role that distance plays is in affecting the strength of attraction/repulsion between them (specifically, the magnitude of the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the particles).
You may wish to read up on Coulomb's law for more details.

 

[Nano-Passion]

The answer is that you are looking at the phenomenon of electrostatic forces from a wrong perspective. There is no special distance at which attraction or repulsion sets in. They are continuous phenomena - like-charged ions always repel and unlikes always attract, regardless of the distance separating them. The role that distance plays is in affecting the strength of attraction/repulsion between them (specifically, the magnitude of the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the particles).
You may wish to read up on Coulomb's law for more details.

I'm sorry, what I really mean is:

At what distance do unlike-charged ions stop attracting and start repelling? (I assume it can not keep attracting forever, unless outside force is applied to it).

At what distance do neutrally charged atoms start repelling each other? (Some momentum carrying them toward each other)

 

[mishrashubham]

I'm sorry, what I really mean is:

At what distance do unlike-charged ions stop attracting and start repelling? (I assume it can not keep attracting forever, unless outside force is applied to it).

I don't think I'm aware of any such phenomenon. Unlike charges always attract no matter how far apart they are.
Please tell us where you got this information from as it is probably wrong (unless a verified research paper).

 

[Nano-Passion]

I don't think I'm aware of any such phenomenon. Unlike charges always attract no matter how far apart they are.
Please tell us where you got this information from as it is probably wrong (unless a verified research paper).

All in my head. Just some speculation and imagination.

You misunderstand me, what I am NOT saying is how far they have to be to repel. But how close do they have to get to start repelling.

Though as I ponder this phenomena I have realized that it probably is only exclusively reserved for neutrally charged atoms. Certainly at one point it stops following its' momentum and would collide with another object. We don't fall into our chair for a reason, but it repels us.

Just some speculation, I encourage you to correct or argue against me.

 

[Nano-Passion]

If unlikes never had a certain distance in which they repelled, they would ultimately coalesce. But certainly there is a force that keeps them from doing that. They don't attract indefinitely, but definitely at to a certain point. That distance is what I would like to figure out.

Feel free to correct my reasoning.

 

[Fightfish]

I get what you mean now. You are mainly interested in molecular dynamics, of the attraction and repulsion between atoms/molecules.

There is a potential that sums up the forces acting between two atoms, for instance, and it is known as the Lennard-Jones potential:

A simplistic explanation would be this: (for simplicity, let us consider the hydrogen atom) when two atoms are sufficiently far apart, the attraction between the nucleus of one and the electron of the other outweighs the electron-electron and nucleus-nucleus repulsion between the two atoms, and thus the net force is attractive. Beyond a certain point, the repulsive forces are stronger than the attractive forces, resulting in a net repulsive force. In between lies an equilibrium point at which potential energy of the system is at a minimum and there exists no net force between the two atoms.

The actual mechanics of the system are far more complicated, and you may wish to search for "Lennard-Jones potential" to read up further.

 

[Nano-Passion]

I get what you mean now. You are mainly interested in molecular dynamics, of the attraction and repulsion between atoms/molecules.

There is a potential that sums up the forces acting between two atoms, for instance, and it is known as the Lennard-Jones potential:

A simplistic explanation would be this: (for simplicity, let us consider the hydrogen atom) when two atoms are sufficiently far apart, the attraction between the nucleus of one and the electron of the other outweighs the electron-electron and nucleus-nucleus repulsion between the two atoms, and thus the net force is attractive. Beyond a certain point, the repulsive forces are stronger than the attractive forces, resulting in a net repulsive force. In between lies an equilibrium point at which potential energy of the system is at a minimum and there exists no net force between the two atoms.

The actual mechanics of the system are far more complicated, and you may wish to search for "Lennard-Jones potential" to read up further.

First I want to say thanks!

I did some research about it. This seems a little complicated as of right now, so far I've only learned classical mechanics in physics. So I feel a little bewildered. Do they teach us this in further physics classes?