- #1
cactusblanket
- 11
- 0
Homework Statement
Hi there!
Here is a problem from our 1st year course. We have covered the basics on charges and Coulomb's Law. However our prof said he designed the following question to be "deliberately obscure"!
Two charges of 4.00μC are fixed in space, Q1 at (0,0,0) and Q2 at (-1,4,4) with distances accurate to 3 significant figures. A third particle of mass 6.00 g and charge Q3=-3.50μC is placed at (2,3,2) and released. Express its acceleration at the moment of its release using vector notation.
Homework Equations
F=kQ1Q2 / r221
The Attempt at a Solution
My level of understanding is very basic.
A hint from our professor is:
1. find the F on the 3rd particle from charge one,
2. then from charge two.
3. Add them vectorially
4. divide by the mass.
So I was able to do the following:
In the denominator I used
√((0+2)+(0+3)+(0+2))2
And I got these answers
1. F = -7.40 x 10-3 (-2i, -3j, -2k)N
2. F = -1.46 x 10-3 (-1i, 1j, 2k)N
3. I added them together to get -8.86 x 10-3 (-0.593i, -0.620j, -0.269k)N
4. I used F=ma to get final answer of:
-1.477 (-0.593i, -0.620j, -0.269k)m/s2
I would like to know if I am way off track here or possibly in the ball park.
Any help would be great, thank you!