MHB Coulomb's Law: Find Force of 4.0 & 6.0 $\mu C$ Charges

  • Thread starter Thread starter karush
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Coulomb's law Law
AI Thread Summary
Coulomb's Law is applied to calculate the forces between two point charges, with one charge (q1 = 4.0 μC) at the origin and another charge (q2 = 6.0 μC) located 3.0 m away on the x-axis. The force on charge q2 can be determined using the formula F = k * (q1 * q2) / r², where k is Coulomb's constant. The force on q1 is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force on q2 due to Newton's third law. If q2 were to be negative (-6.0 μC), the direction of the forces would change, indicating an attractive force between the charges. Understanding these principles is crucial for mastering concepts in introductory physics.
karush
Gold Member
MHB
Messages
3,240
Reaction score
5
$\tiny{18.3.6 Coulomb's Law }$
$\text{A charge of $q_1=4.0 \mu \, C$ is at origin, and charge}$
$\text{$q_2=6.0 \mu \, C$ is on the x-axis at $x=3.0 m$ }$,
$\text{(a) find the force on the charge $q_2$ } $
$\text{(b) find the force on $q_1$ } $
$\text{(c) how would your answer for parts (a) and (b) dffer if $q_2=-6.0 \mu \, C $ }$

ok I plan to take physics 151this fall
so trying to do some expected problems early
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
karush said:
$\tiny{18.3.6 Coulomb's Law }$
$\text{A charge of $q_1=4.0 \mu \, C$ is at origin, and charge}$
$\text{$q_2=6.0 \mu \, C$ is on the x-axis at $x=3.0 m$ }$,
$\text{(a) find the force on the charge $q_2$ } $
$\text{(b) find the force on $q_1$ } $
$\text{(c) how would your answer for parts (a) and (b) dffer if $q_2=-6.0 \mu \, C $ }$

ok I plan to take physics 151this fall
so trying to do some expected problems early
Start with Coulomb's law!

[math]F = \dfrac{k q_1 q_2}{r^2}[/math] or [math]F = \dfrac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon _0} \dfrac{q_1 q_2}{r^2}[/math]

(Hint: The force on q1 is the same as the force on q2. Why?)

-Dan
 
Seemingly by some mathematical coincidence, a hexagon of sides 2,2,7,7, 11, and 11 can be inscribed in a circle of radius 7. The other day I saw a math problem on line, which they said came from a Polish Olympiad, where you compute the length x of the 3rd side which is the same as the radius, so that the sides of length 2,x, and 11 are inscribed on the arc of a semi-circle. The law of cosines applied twice gives the answer for x of exactly 7, but the arithmetic is so complex that the...
Back
Top