Law formulated by C.-A. de Coulomb that describes the electric force between charged objects.
It states that (1) like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other, (2) the attraction or repulsion acts along the line between the two charges, (3) the size of the force varies inversely as the square of the distance between the two charges, and (4) the size of the force is proportional to the value of each charge.