Electric Field with three negative point charges in a line

kddc
Messages
2
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Find the magnitude of the electric field this comination of charges produces at point P, which lies 6.00cm from the -2.00μC charge measured perpendicular to the line connecting the three charges.


Homework Equations


E=k\frac{Q}{r^{2}}
F=k\frac{q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}
F=\frac{E}{q}
k\approx9*10^{9}

The Attempt at a Solution


Conversions to the correct units were done prior to plugging values into eqn.

To my understanding the net electric field is the sum of all electric fields from each point charge.
So I found E_{-5μC}=-4,500,000 and the same goes for the other -5μC point charge; E_{-5μC}=-4,500,000 , and for the -2μC point charge I got E_{-2.00μC}= -5,000,000

For E_{-5μC} I calculated and then plugged in \sqrt{(8cm^{2}+6cm^{2}}≈0.1m


Results summed up to E_{-5μC}+E_{-5μC}+E_{-2.00μC}=(-4.5*10^{6})+(-4.5*10^{6})+(-5.0*10^{6})= -1.40*10^{7}

The question only asked for magnitude so I'm assuming direction doesn't really matter at this point. What am I doing wrong? Please help.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
kddc said:

Homework Statement


Find the magnitude of the electric field this comination of charges produces at point P, which lies 6.00cm from the -2.00μC charge measured perpendicular to the line connecting the three charges.


Homework Equations


E=k\frac{Q}{r^{2}}
F=k\frac{q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}
F=\frac{E}{q}
k\approx9*10^{9}

The Attempt at a Solution


Conversions to the correct units were done prior to plugging values into eqn.

To my understanding the net electric field is the sum of all electric fields from each point charge.
So far so good.

So I found E_{-5μC}=-4,500,000 and the same goes for the other -5μC point charge; E_{-5μC}=-4,500,000 , and for the -2μC point charge I got E_{-2.00μC}= -5,000,000
The electric field is a vector, and you must take the vector sum of the fields of the three charges.
 
Thank you!


Forgot to log in after having solved it.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
980
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
1K
Replies
7
Views
3K
Replies
11
Views
3K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
1K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
7
Views
2K