X-Nico

unusual facts about inverse square law



Laplace–Runge–Lenz vector

The hydrogen atom is a Kepler problem, since it comprises two charged particles interacting by Coulomb's law of electrostatics, another inverse square central force.


see also

Shell theorem

On the other hand, if we relax the conditions, and require only that the field everywhere outside a spherically symmetric body is the same as the field from some point mass at the centre (of any mass), we allow a new class of solutions given by the Yukawa potential, of which the inverse square law is a special case.