Calculating magnitude of electric field at center of square

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves calculating the magnitude and direction of the net electric field at the center of a square array of charges. The original poster attempts to analyze the contributions of various charges to the electric field, particularly focusing on the x and y components.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the contributions of different charges to the electric field, questioning the correctness of the original poster's vector drawings and calculations. There is a focus on identifying missing terms and ensuring the correct interpretation of charge positions and their effects on the electric field.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging in the discussion, with some providing corrections and suggestions for the calculations. There is a recognition of potential errors in the original poster's approach, but no consensus has been reached on the correct method or final answer.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of confusion regarding the placement of charges and their respective contributions to the electric field, as well as the need to clarify assumptions about the geometry of the problem.

Physics2341313
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Homework Statement



Find the magnitude and direction of net electric field at the center of the square array of charges. Find E_x and E_y

The square array of charges http://postimg.org/image/4gf94ymmf/

The Attempt at a Solution


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My attempt at drawing in the force vectors http://postimg.org/image/mae0fm1d9/ . Now the +3q and +q's should contribute a net of zero to the electric field and they can be ignored. So, we have E = k [ -2q^2 / d^2 + q^2/d^2 + 5q^2/d^2] = 4k q^2/d^2

Taking the x-component of the field we have
E_x = (4k q^2/d^2)cos(45)

the y-component:
E_x = (4k q^2/d^2)sin(45)

This isn't right or I would not be posting here... so what am I doing wrong? I'm really not understanding how to do these types of problems for net fields in squares. Have I even drawn the vectors correctly?
 
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Physics2341313 said:
k[−2q 2 /d 2 +q 2 /d 2 +5q 2 /d 2 ]=
You're missing a term.
 
The missing term is the -5q charge, yes? So it should be
E=k[−2q/(\sqrt2 * d)+q/(\sqrt 2 * d) + 2(5q/(\sqrt 2 * d))= k[9q / (\sqrt 2 * d)]

Also, changed q^2 to q since this is the electric field not force... silly mistake, and the bottom term should be \sqrt 2 * d instead of d^2?

This is still incorrect is not? I'm really not seeing what I'm missing here.
 
Methinks that should do almost do it (dumped the picture, so I'm going by memory); the "two" and "one" are both on axes? In which case "d."
 
Bystander said:
Methinks that should do almost do it (dumped the picture, so I'm going by memory); the "two" and "one" are both on axes? In which case "d."
Ah fair point forgot about those being strictly on the x-axis, so need to fix that then resolve into E_x and E_y for the respective terms and then take the square root of those squared for the magnitude.
 

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