9/16/2015

MasteringPhysics:Ch21HW

Coulomb'sLawTutorial
LearningGoal:
Tounderstandhowtocalculateforcesbetweenchargedparticles,particularlythedependenceonthesignofthe
chargesandthedistancebetweenthem.
Coulomb'slawdescribestheforcethattwochargedparticlesexertoneachother(byNewton'sthirdlaw,thosetwo
forcesmustbeequalandopposite).TheforceF21 exertedbyparticle2(withchargeq 2 )onparticle1(withchargeq 1 )
isproportionaltothechargeofeachparticleandinverselyproportionaltothesquareofthedistancer betweenthem:
F

wherek =

1
4 0

21

k q2 q1
r

^
r
,
21

andr^21 istheunitvectorpointingfromparticle2toparticle1.Theforcevectorwillbeparallelor

antiparalleltothedirectionofr^21 ,paralleliftheproductq 1 q 2 > 0 andantiparallelifq 1

ifthechargesareofoppositesignandrepulsiveifthechargesareofthesamesign.

< 0

theforceisattractive

PartA
Considertwopositivelychargedparticles,oneofcharge
q (particle0)fixedattheorigin,andanotherofcharge
0
q (particle1)fixedontheyaxisat (0, d 1 , 0) .Whatis
1
thenetforceF onparticle0duetoparticle1?
Expressyouranswer(avector)usinganyorallofk ,
q

^
^
,q 1 ,d 1 ,^
i , j ,and k .

ANSWER:

q0q1
d1 2

^
j

Correct

PartB
Nowaddathird,negativelycharged,particle,whosechargeisq 2 (particle2).Particle2fixedontheyaxisat
position(0, d 2 , 0).Whatisthenewnetforceonparticle0,fromparticle1andparticle2?
^
^
Expressyouranswer(avector)usinganyorallofk ,q 0 ,q 1 ,q 2 ,d 1 ,d 2 ,^
i , j ,and k .

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MasteringPhysics:Ch21HW

ANSWER:

(k

q0q1
d1 2

+k

q0q2
d2 2

^
)j

Correct

PartC
Particle0experiencesarepulsionfromparticle1andanattractiontowardparticle2.Forcertainvaluesofd 1 and
d 2 ,therepulsionandattractionshouldbalanceeachother,resultinginnonetforce.Forwhatratio d 1 /d 2 isthere
nonetforceonparticle0?
Expressyouranswerintermsofanyorallofthefollowingvariables:k ,q 0 ,q 1 ,q 2 .
ANSWER:

d 1 /d 2

q2

Correct

PartD
Nowaddafourthchargedparticle,particle3,withpositivechargeq 3 ,fixedintheyzplaneat(0,

d2 , d2 )

.Whatis

thenetforceF onparticle0duesolelytothischarge?
^
^
Expressyouranswer(avector)usingk ,q 0 ,q 3 ,d 2 ,^
i , j ,and k .Includeonlytheforcecausedbyparticle3.

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MasteringPhysics:Ch21HW

Hint1.Findthemagnitudeofforcefromparticle3
Whatisthemagnitudeoftheforceonparticle0fromparticle3,fixedat(0,

d2 , d2 )

Expressyouranswerusingk ,q 0 ,q 3 ,d 2 .

Hint1.Distancetoparticle3
UsethePythagoreantheoremtofindthestraightlinedistancebetweentheoriginand(0,

d2 , d2 )

ANSWER:

F3

kq 0 q 3
2d2

Hint2.Vectorcomponents
Theforcevectorpointsfromq 3 toq 0 .Becauseq 3 issymmetricallylocatedbetweentheyaxisandthez
axis,theanglebetweenr^30 ,theunitvectorpointingfromparticle3toparticle0,andtheyaxisis/4
radians.Youhavealreadycalculatedthemagnitudeofthevectorabove.Nowbreakuptheforcevectorinto
itsyandzcomponents.
ANSWER:

q0q3
22 d2 2

^
j k

q0q3
22 d2 2

^
k

Correct

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