Using Coulomb's law shows how to calculate the magitude and direction of the electric force between two charged particles. Coulomb's law states that the magnitude of the force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. If the sign of the charges is the same, both positive or both negative, then there will be a force of repulsion between the charges. If they have the opposite sign then there will be a force of attraction between the objects. The force is along the straight line joining the two charges. The SI unit for the force is the newton.

The force between the charged bodies at rest is commonly known as the electrostatic force. Coulomb's law is an inverse-square law and is similar to Isaac Newton's inverse-square law of universal gravitation, but gravitational forces are always attractive, while electrostatic forces can be attractive or repulsive.

The law is named after the French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb who first discovered it in 1785. The SI unit for electric charge was named after him.

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