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Credit for problems submitted late will decrease to 0% after the deadline has passed.
The wrong answer penalty is 2% per part. Multiple choice questions are penalized as described in the online help.
The unopened hint bonus is 2% per part.
You are allowed 4 attempts per answer.
Part A
What is the force felt by the electrons and the nuclei in the rod when the external field described in the problem
introduction is applied? (Ignore internal fields in the rod for the moment.)
Hint A.1 Formula for the force on a charge in an electric field
Hint not displayed
Part B
What is the motion of the negative electrons and positive atomic nuclei caused by the external field?
Hint B.1 How to approch this part
Hint not displayed
Part C
Part not displayed
Part D
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This charge is said to be "induced" by the presence of the electric field of the charged ball: It is not transferred
by the ball.
Now consider what happens when the small metal ball is repeatedly given a negative charge and then brought into
contact with end A of the rod.
Part B
After a great many contacts with the charged ball, how is the charge on the rod arranged (when the charged ball is
far away)?
Part C
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How does end A of the rod react when the charged ball approaches it after a great many previous contacts with end
A? Assume that the phrase "a great many" means that the total charge on the rod dominates any charge movement
induced by the near presence of the charged ball.
Part D
How does end B of the rod react when the charged ball approaches it after a great many previous contacts with end
A?
Hint D.1 The rod is a conductor
Because the rod is a conductor, the charge is free to distribute itself over the entire rod. It must be distributed so
that the internal electric field in the rod is zero, and there is only one distribution that achieves this. There is no
memory in this situation: The charge will always distribute itself into the same final result. The rod is
symmetric. Therefore, the final distribution of charge must also be symmetric, and hence the same charge must
be on end A as on end B.
ANSWER: 1 2 3 4 5
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A positive charge is brought close to a fixed neutral conductor that has a cavity. The cavity is neutral; that is, there
is no net charge inside the cavity.
Part A
Which of the figures best represents the charge distribution on the inner and outer walls of the conductor?
ANSWER: 1 2 3
ANSWER: 1 2 3 4 5
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Learning Goal: To understand the electric force between charged and uncharged conductors and insulators.
When a test charge is brought near a charged object, we know from Coulomb's law that it will experience a net
force (either attractive or repulsive, depending on the nature of the object's charge). A test charge may also
experience an electric force when brought near a neutral object. Any attraction of a neutral insulator or neutral
conductor to a test charge must occur through induced polarization. In an insulator, the electrons are bound to their
molecules. Though they cannot move freely throughout the insulator, they can shift slightly, creating a rather weak
net attraction to a test charge that is brought close to the insulator's surface. In a conductor, free electrons will
accumulate on the surface of the conductor nearest the positive test charge. This will create a strong attractive force
if the test charge is placed very close to the conductor's surface.
Consider three plastic balls (A, B, and C), each carrying a uniformly
distributed unknown charge (which may be zero), and an uncharged copper ball
(D). A positive test charge (T) experiences the forces shown in the figure when
brought very near to the individual balls. The test charge T is strongly
attracted to A, strongly repelled from B, weakly attracted to C, and strongly
attracted to D.
Assume throughout this problem that the balls are brought very close
together.
Part A
What is the nature of the force between balls A and B?
Part A.1 What is the net charge on ball A?
Part not displayed
ANSWER: strongly attractive strongly repulsive weakly attractive neither attractive nor repulsive
Part B
What is the nature of the force between balls A and C?
Part B.1 What is the charge on ball C?
Recall that ball C is composed of insulating material, which means that it can be polarized, but the charges
inside are otherwise not free to move around inside the ball. Since the test charge experiences only a weak force
due to ball C, what must be the nature of the net charge on ball C?
ANSWER: strongly attractive strongly repulsive weakly attractive neither attractive nor repulsive
Recall that ball C is composed of insulating material, which can be polarized in the presence of an external
charged object such as ball A. Once polarized, there will be a weak attraction between balls A and C, because
the positive and negative charges in ball C are at slightly different average distances from ball A.
Part C
What is the nature of the force between balls A and D?
Part C.1 What are the surface charges on ball D?
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Recall that copper is a conductor, in which charges can freely flow. When ball D is brought close to ball A, what
will be the nature of the surface charge density on the side of ball D that is closest to ball A?
The negatively charged ball A (see Part A) will exert an attractive force on the positive charges in ball D and a
repulsive force on the negative charges (namely, the electrons). Since ball D is made of copper, which is a
conductor, the electrons will be repelled from negatively charged ball A and will migrate to the side of ball D
farthest from ball A. The deficit of electrons on the side of ball D that is closest to ball A results in a positive
net surface charge density on that side of ball D. Because the positive charge on ball D is much closer to ball
A than the negative charge, the attractive force that ball A experiences due to the positive charges on ball D is
stronger than the repulsive force ball A experiences due to the negative charges on ball D.
Part D
What is the nature of the force between balls D and C?
Because the test charge T is neither strongly attracted to nor repelled from ball C, ball C must have zero net
charge. Since ball D also has zero net charge, there will not be any force between the two balls.
Coloumb's Law
where and is the unit vector pointing from particle 2 to particle 1. The force vector will be parallel or
antiparallel to the direction of , parallel if the product and antiparallel if ; the force is attractive if the
charges are of opposite sign and repulsive if the charges are of the same sign.
Part A
Consider two positively charged particles, one of charge (particle 0) fixed at
the origin, and another of charge (particle 1) fixed on the y-axis at .
What is the net force on particle 0 due to particle 1?
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Part B
Now add a third, negatively charged, particle, whose charge is (particle 2).
Particle 2 fixed on the y-axis at position . What is the new net force
on particle 0, from particle 1 and particle 2?
Express your answer (a vector) using any or all of , , , ,
, , , , and .
Part C
Particle 0 experiences a repulsion from particle 1 and an attraction toward particle 2. For certain values of and ,
the repulsion and attraction should balance each other, resulting in no net force. For what ratio is there no net
force on particle 0?
Express your answer in terms of any or all of the following variables: , , , .
Part D
Now add a fourth charged particle, particle 3, with positive charge , fixed in
the yz-plane at . What is the net force on particle 0 due solely to this
charge?
Charging an Insulator
This problem explores the behavior of charge on realistic (i.e. non-ideal) insulators. We take as an example a long
insulating rod suspended by insulating wires. Assume that the rod is initially electrically neutral. For convenience,
we will refer to the left end of the rod as end A, and the right end of the rod as end B . In the answer options for this
problem, "weakly attracted/repelled" means "attracted/repelled with a force of
magnitude similar to that which would exist between two balls, one of which
is charged, and the other acquires a small induced charge". An
attractive/repulsive force greater than this should be classified as "strongly
attracted/repelled".
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Part A
A small metal ball is given a negative charge, then brought near (i.e., within a few millimeters) to end A of the
rod. What happens to end A of the rod when the ball approaches it closely this first time?
Hint A.1 What is an insulator?
An insulator is a material which does not allow charge/current to flow easily through it.
Currently, you can think of this in the following way: When the sphere is brought near the rod, a positive
charge is induced at end A (and correspondingly, end B acquires a negative induced charge). This means that
some charge must have flowed from A to B. Since charge flow is inhibited in an insulator, the induced charges
are typically small. Later you will learn how to model insulators more accurately and formulate a slightly more
accurate argument.
Now consider what happens when the small metal ball is repeatedly given a negative charge and then brought into
contact with end A of the rod
Part B
After several contacts with the charged ball, how is the charge on the rod arranged?
Hint B.1 What is an insulator?
An insulator is a material which does not allow charge/current to flow easily through it.
Select the best description.
ANSWER: positive charge on end B and negative charge on end A
negative charge spread evenly on both ends
negative charge on end A with end B remaining almost neutral
positive charge on end A with end B remaining almost neutral
none of the above
When the sphere is touched to end A, some of its negative charge will be deposited there. However, since
charge cannot flow easily through an insulator, most of this charge will just sit at end A and will not distribute
itself over the rod, as it would if the rod was a conductor.
Part C
How does end A of the rod react when the ball approaches it after it has already made several contacts with the rod,
such that a fairly large charge has been deposited at end A?
Select the expected behavior.
ANSWER: strongly repelled strongly attracted weakly attracted weakly repelled neither attracted nor
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repelled
More on insulators
You may have learnt that any material is made of atoms, which in turn consist of a nucleus and electrons. In
the atoms of some materials, some of the electrons are "bound" to the nucleus very weakly, which leaves them
free to move around the volume of the material. Such electrons are called "free" electrons, and such materials
are called conductors, because the charge (i.e. electrons) can move around easily. In insulators, all the electrons
in the atom are bound quite tightly to the nucleus, i.e. there are no free electrons available to move through the
insulator.
Mystery Charge
Consider the following configuration of fixed, uniformly charged spheres (see figure):
Part A
What is the sign of the charge on the yellow sphere?
ANSWER: positive
negative
Part B
What is the sign of the charge on the red sphere?
ANSWER: positive
negative
Part C
Suppose that the magnitude of the charge on the yellow sphere is determined to be . Calculate the charge on
the red sphere.
Hint C.1 How to approach the problem
From the problem statement, you know that the x component of the net force acting on the blue sphere must
vanish. The red sphere and the yellow sphere each exert a force on the blue sphere. You know the charge of the
yellow sphere. This allows you to calculate the x component of the force that the yellow sphere exerts on the
blue sphere. You need to find the appropriate charge for the red sphere such that the x components of the two
forces sum to zero.
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Note that Coulomb's Law gives the total force between charges. To find a component, you must first apply
Coulomb's Law to find the total force and then resolve the force. It is incorrect to first resolve the relative
position vector and then use Coulomb's Law separately for each component.
Express your answer in terms of , , and . You may use for , where represents the
permittivity of free space.
ANSWER:
=
ANSWER: =
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ANSWER: =
Part B
Now assume that the charge is emitted with velocity in the positive y direction. Between the origin and the
screen, the charge travels through a constant electric field pointing in the positive x direction. What should the
magnitude of the electric field be if the charge is to hit the target on the screen?
ANSWER: =
ANSWER: =
ANSWER: =
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The equations of motion for this part are identical to the equations of motion for the previous part, with and
interchanged. Thus it is no surprise that the answers to the two parts are also identical, with and
interchanged.
Charged Ring
Consider a uniformly charged ring in the xy plane, centered at the origin. The
ring has radius and positive charge distributed evenly along its
circumference.
Part A
What is the direction of the electric field at any point on the z axis?
Hint A.1 How to approach the problem
Hint not displayed
Part B
What is the magnitude of the electric field along the positive z axis?
Part B.1 Formula for the electric field
Part not displayed
Part C
Imagine a small metal ball of mass and negative charge . The ball is released from rest at the point and
constrained to move along the z axis, with no damping. If , what will be the ball's subsequent trajectory?
Part D
Part not displayed
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A charged wire of negligible thickness has length units and has a linear
charge density . Consider the electric field at the point , a distance above
the midpoint of the wire.
Part A
The field points along one of the primary axes. Which one?
Part B
Part not displayed
Electric Dipoles
Part A
What is the net force that the dipole experiences due to the electric field?
Part B
What is , the magnitude of the torque that the electric field exerts about the center of mass of the dipole?
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Part C
Part not displayed
Part D
Part not displayed
Part E
Part not displayed
Part A
What is , the magnitude of the dipole's angular velocity when it is pointing along the y axis?
ANSWER: =
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Part B
If is small, the dipole will exhibit simple harmonic motion after it is released. What is the period of the
dipole's oscillations in this case?
Hint B.1 How to approach the problem
The equation of motion for a simple harmonic oscillator can always be written in the standard form . To
solve this problem, you need to write the equation of motion for the dipole in the standard form with replaced
by the angular variable . This will allow you to read off the expression for , which has a simple relationship to
the period of oscillation. (Note: Here, the variable does not represent the angular velocity of the dipole; rather,
it denotes the frequency of the dipole's oscillation.) Start with the angular analogue of Newton's second law:
. Recall that , the angular acceleration, is equal to the second derivative of , just as linear acceleration is equal
to the second derivative of position.
ANSWER: =
Up to this point we have been interested only in the magnitude of the torque. Now let's think about the direction.
After all, torque is a vector quantity. For a system to oscillate, the torque must be a restoring torque; that is, the
torque and the (small) angular displacement must be in opposite directions. (Recall that small angular
displacements can be treated as vectors, since they obey vector addition, while large angles do not.) If you did the
vector algebra carefully, you would find that the correct vector equation is
For future purposes we will write this as , keeping in mind that now represents the component of
in the direction, rather than the magnitude of .
Compare this to the standard form for a simple harmonic oscillator to obtain the oscillation frequency
for the motion of the dipole.
Express your answer in terms of quantities given in the problem introduction.
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ANSWER: =
Hint B.5 The relationship between (angular) oscillation frequency and period
Hint not displayed
Express your answer in terms of and quantities given in the problem introduction.
ANSWER: =
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