Charged Ball on String: Tension and Vertical Movement Explained

[bodensee9]

Hello:

Suppose that I have a charged ball hanging on a string. Then I placed a charged rod next to the ball and caused my string to make an angle with the vertical. Then, the tension in the string in the horizontal component would be equal to the force from the charged rod, no? That's the only force that's causing the string to move with respect to the vertical. Then my tension in the vertical component = mg.

Thanks.

 

[LowlyPion]

Hello:

Suppose that I have a charged ball hanging on a string. Then I placed a charged rod next to the ball and caused my string to make an angle with the vertical. Then, the tension in the string in the horizontal component would be equal to the force from the charged rod, no? That's the only force that's causing the string to move with respect to the vertical. Then my tension in the vertical component = mg.

Thanks.

Sounds OK.

And the angle it makes θ, is the tan^-1(F_elec/F_mg)