Theoretical Electric Fields Problem

[GLRult]

Homework Statement

Field Lines Three Figure 23-64 shows the electric field lines for three point charges separated by a small distance. The two outer charges are identical and the one in the center is different.


Figure 23-64
(a) Determine the ratio, qA / qB, of one of the outer charges to the inner one.
1Your answer is incorrect.
(b) Determine the signs of qA and qB.
qA 2Your answer is correct.
qB 3Your answer is correct.

Homework Equations

(k * q)/distance^2 * unitvector pointing at point from source

The Attempt at a Solution

Uh Don't know how

 

[jbsteele]

to do this. I know that electric field lines go from positive to negative, so qA has a positive charge and qB has a negative charge?

 

[kerimek]

to answer this, as there is no actual numerical value given for the charges or the distance. In order to solve for the ratio of qA/qB, we would need to know the numerical values for each charge. The same goes for determining the signs of qA and qB. Without numerical values, we cannot determine the signs. It is also important to note that the electric field lines shown in the figure are only a representation of the electric field, and do not provide any information about the magnitude or direction of the field. In order to fully solve this problem, we would need more information such as the numerical values for the charges and the distance between them.