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podboy6
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Just got out of my E&M class lecture about Coulombs Law, I'm having trouble getting off of the ground with an electrostatics question:
Question: Three charged particles lie on the x-axis (fig. 1). Particles 1 and 2 are fixed. Particle 3 is free to move, but the electrostatic force on it from particles 1 and 2 is zero. [tex]\mathbf{L}_{23} = \mathbf{L}_{12}[/tex], what is the ratio of [tex]\mbox{$\frac{q_1}{q_2}}[/tex]?
Fig. 1
-----O------------O----------------O-------------x (positive x axis)
[tex]\mathbf{L}_{12}[/tex] is the distance between Particles 1 and 2.
[tex]\mathbf{L}_{23}[/tex] is the distance between Particles 2 and 3
This is from a section dealing exclusively with Coulombs law, so in this case I believe I am obligated to use it. I'm thinking of relating the forces on particle 1 to particles 2 and three in:
[tex] \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \frac{|q_{1}||q_{2}|}{(L_{12})^2} = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \frac{|q_{1}||q_{2}|}{(L_{23})^2} [/tex]
I'm not sure this will work, but I'm not sure how to accomplish this task. Any ideas?
Question: Three charged particles lie on the x-axis (fig. 1). Particles 1 and 2 are fixed. Particle 3 is free to move, but the electrostatic force on it from particles 1 and 2 is zero. [tex]\mathbf{L}_{23} = \mathbf{L}_{12}[/tex], what is the ratio of [tex]\mbox{$\frac{q_1}{q_2}}[/tex]?
Fig. 1
-----O------------O----------------O-------------x (positive x axis)
[tex]\mathbf{L}_{12}[/tex] is the distance between Particles 1 and 2.
[tex]\mathbf{L}_{23}[/tex] is the distance between Particles 2 and 3
This is from a section dealing exclusively with Coulombs law, so in this case I believe I am obligated to use it. I'm thinking of relating the forces on particle 1 to particles 2 and three in:
[tex] \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \frac{|q_{1}||q_{2}|}{(L_{12})^2} = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \frac{|q_{1}||q_{2}|}{(L_{23})^2} [/tex]
I'm not sure this will work, but I'm not sure how to accomplish this task. Any ideas?