Coulomb's Law, finding acceleration direction

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around Coulomb's Law and the behavior of charges in an electrostatic context. The original poster presents a scenario involving three negative charges, with a focus on determining the position of a third charge and the direction of its acceleration when released near two fixed charges.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the conditions under which the net force on the third charge is zero and question the implications of its initial position relative to the fixed charges. There is also inquiry into the net force acting on the third charge and its direction of acceleration.

Discussion Status

Some participants are clarifying the relative positions of the charges and discussing the net forces involved. There is an ongoing exploration of the implications of the charge configurations, but no consensus has been reached regarding the acceleration direction of the third charge.

Contextual Notes

The problem involves specific constraints regarding the charges being negative and fixed in place, as well as the distance between them. The original poster's attempts at a solution indicate some calculations, but there is uncertainty about the second part of the problem.

loukiz
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Homework Statement


Two charges q1 = -7 and q2 = -2, both charges are fixed in place and the distance between them is 2m. Third negative charge q3 is moving along the vertical line that connects two charges.

1) net force acting on q3 = 0; where is the charge located ?
2) If charge q3 is released 0.5m above charge q1, in which direction is it going to accelerate ?

Homework Equations


F1 - F2 = 0
x = position of q3
q1/x2 = q2/(d-x)2

The Attempt at a Solution


After solving #1 the final formula that i came up with is x = d√q1/q2 / 1 + √q1/q2

and #2 i have no clue how to solve this one...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
loukiz said:
released 0.5m above charge q1,
Where is q2 relative to q1? Above? Below?
 
Bystander said:
Where is q2 relative to q1? Above? Below?
q2 is above q1
 
Net force on q3 from the two fixed charges is then what?
 

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