Calculating Electric Field at a Given Position Due to a π- Particle

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The discussion focuses on calculating the electric field at a specified location due to a π- particle with charge -e. The initial calculations involved determining the distance vector from the particle to the observation point and computing the squared distance, which was initially found to be incorrect. After correcting the distance calculation, the electric field was recalculated, yielding a more reasonable vector result. Participants emphasized the importance of using scientific notation and significant figures in the final answer. The final electric field values were confirmed to be appropriate after the corrections.
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Homework Statement



A π- ("pi-minus") particle, which has charge -e, is at location ‹ 5.00e-9, -5.00e-9, -6.00e-9 › m. What is the electric field at location < -5.00e-9, 3.00e-9, 5.00e-9 > m, due to the π- particle?
5e-9 is equivalent to 5*10^-9

Homework Equations


E=(k*q/r^2)r-hat


The Attempt at a Solution


So to find the Electric field created at the given position first I subtract the source from the observation, I am assuming the pi- particle is the source. When I do this is what I get
<-10e-9,8e-9,11e-9>

So next I compute the r^2 or the distance from source to observation location. To do this I square each entry in the vector above and add them up to get 8.5e-17

Now I compute the value to the left of the r-hat vector: 9e9*(-1.602e-19/8.5e-17), this gives me -16962352.94 N/C

Next I calculate the r-hat vector by dividing r by its magnitude which is sqrt(8.5e-17).
I get <-1.0846, .8677, 1.1931>

[-16962352.94 N/C *<-1.0846, .8677, 1.1931>]
Finally I multiply the two numbers together and get a vector with huge values, which doesn't seem right, can some one tell me where I am going wrong or maybe tell me the right way to approach this problem, because I seem to be stuck.
Thank You for your help.
 
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Your value for |r|2 looks dubious. Better check it.
 
Yes the |r|^2 was dubious

After reworking that I got |r|=1.6882e-8

Plugging this back in I get
E=[9e9*(1.602e-19)/(1.6882e-8)^2]*< -0.5923, 0.4739, 0.6516>

=<2996700,-2397300,-3296300>

Is this a more reasonable answer?
 
The results look good.

You might want to use scientific notation and appropriate significant figures for your final answer.
 
The book claims the answer is that all the magnitudes are the same because "the gravitational force on the penguin is the same". I'm having trouble understanding this. I thought the buoyant force was equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. Weight depends on mass which depends on density. Therefore, due to the differing densities the buoyant force will be different in each case? Is this incorrect?

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