Known-to-Unknown Approach To Teach about Coulomb's Law

Analogies from life experiences help students understand various relationships presented in an introductory chemistry course. Coulomb's law is a complex relationship encountered in introductory general chemistry. A proper understanding of the relationships between the quantities involved in Coulomb's law is necessary in order for students to comprehend the influence of charge and size of ions on a number of physical properties including lattice energy, melting points, and solubility of ionic solids. An analogy that is helpful to teach about Coulomb's law is presented.