How Much Charge Do Repelling Styrofoam Balls Carry?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MightyMan11
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Balls
MightyMan11
Messages
13
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Three identical small Styrofoam balls (m = 1.84 g) are suspended from a fixed point by three nonconducting threads, each with a length of 46.5 cm and with negligible mass. At equilibrium the three balls form an equilateral triangle with sides of 30.0 cm. What is the common charge q carried by each ball?

Homework Equations


Coloumb's law

The Attempt at a Solution


I've figured out that the repulsive electric force acting on one ball is 6.138e-3 N.
This was done by figuring out the x-component of tension by using the weight.
After that, using coloumb's law, i got that
F = (9.99e10)(q2)
i then figured that the net force would equal F + F.
I added the two force vectors using the cosine law and splitting it into components and i arrive at
q = 1.88e-7 C
however, this seems to be wrong.

Can anyone help please?
 
Last edited:
I solved it!
Could a moderator please close this thread?
Thanks.
 

Similar threads

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