Examination of the affect of Coulombs Law
Four charged particles are arranged in a cartesian co-ordinate system in a 2D plane: Distance between origin and each particle is given, net electrostatic force on particel 1 is given as zero. The distance of the 4th particle from the origin is determied using Coulombs law so that the net force on particle 1 is zero, taking the geometry, distances and charges on all the particles in to account
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Coulombs Law is used to estimate the distance of a 4th charged particle from the origin of a co-ordinate system so that no net force is experienced by one of the particles
In general we use the equation for the Coulomb force between 2 charges and separated by distance as below
The factor we will denote by to keep the analysis simple going forward
The total force expereiced by charge due to charges is thus given by (1) below
(1)
(2)
When
(3)
But charges so (3) reduces to
(4)
(5)
Dividing (5) by throughout
(6)
But so and
Thus
Thus (6) becomes
Which has solutions for given by
Only valid solution is for to be positive in the context of the diagram so the solution is
If charges and move closer to the axis but maintain their symmetry then the force between these charges and charge increases. You can see that then the distance from these charges to charge decreases as decreases the distance separating these charges and goes down as decreases
Thus the force due to charge must increase to compensate to keep the net force on charge zero. Thus charge needs to be brought towards charge to compensate so needs to decrease
© BrainMass Inc. brainmass.com December 24, 2021, 9:36 pm ad1c9bdddf>https://brainmass.com/physics/coulombs-law/examination-affect-coulombs-law-396962