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Coulomb\'s law for the magnitude of the force F between two particles with charg

ID: 1366953 • Letter: C

Question

Coulomb's law for the magnitude of the force Fbetween two particles with charges  Q and  Qseparated by a distance d is

|F|=K|QQ|d2,

where K=1/40, and 0=8.854×1012C2/(Nm2) is the permittivity of free space.

Consider two point charges located on the x axis: one charge, q1 = -10.0 nC , is located at x1 = -1.750 m ;the second charge, q2 = 35.5 nC , is at the origin (x=0.0000).

What is the net force exerted by these two charges on a third charge q3 = 47.5 nC placed between q1 and q2 at x3 = -1.080 m ?

Your answer may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of the force.

Explanation / Answer

F13 = k*q1*q3/r13^2

= 9*10^9*10*10^-9*47.5*10^-9/(1.75 - 1.08)^2

= 9.52*10^-6 N (towards -x axis)


F23 = k*q2*q3/r23^2

= 9*10^9*35.5*10^-9*47.5*10^-9/(1.08 - 0)^2

= 1.3*10^-5 N (towards -x axis)

so, Fnet = - (F13 + F23)

= - (9.52*10^-6 + 1.3*10^-5 )

= -2.252*10^-5 N