Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Repulsive force is a force that pushes objects away from each other. It occurs when two objects have the same type of charge (either both positive or both negative) and they repel each other.
Related terms
Attractive Force: An attractive force is the opposite of a repulsive force. It pulls objects towards each other, like gravity pulling objects towards the Earth.
Electrostatics: Electrostatics is the study of stationary electric charges and their interactions, including repulsive forces between like charges.
Coulomb's law describes the magnitude of electrostatic forces between charged particles and states that the force is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of their distance apart.