Insulating Spheres in Electric Fields

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a physics problem involving two insulating spheres with uniform charges and masses, released from rest at a distance d. The participant initially attempts to calculate the potential energy change and kinetic energy at the point of collision using conservation laws. However, they express uncertainty about their approach, particularly regarding the treatment of the spheres as point charges and the integration used in their potential energy calculation. Other forum members suggest simplifying the problem by directly calculating the energy difference without integration and confirm that treating the spheres as point charges is appropriate. The conversation concludes with acknowledgment of the guidance received.
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Hi, I'd like to ask the good people of this forum for some help.
Here's a problem I've been working on for a while, and I'm seriously at my wit's end. I guess there's something I'm missing here...


Homework Statement


Two insulating spheres have radii r1 and r2, masses m1 and m2, and uniformly distributed charges -q1 and q2. They are released from rest when their centers are separated by a distance d. How fast is each moving when they collide? Suggestion: Consider conservation of energy and of linear momentum.

Homework Equations


I thought these were relevant:
Momentum=mv
Kinetic energy = 1/2(mv^2)
\DeltaU = -q\intE dr

The Attempt at a Solution


First I solved for the potential energy that this system gains when the two spheres are moved apart:
\DeltaU = q1\int^{d}_{d-r1-r2}E dr = k(q1)(q2)(\frac{1}{d-r1-r2} - 1/d)

I figured this is the amount of energy the spheres would have when they collide, so...
\DeltaU = \frac{1}{2}(m1)v^{2}_{1} + \frac{1}{2}(m2)v^{2}_{2}

From conservation of momentum, v2 = (m1/m2)v1 so subbing that into the above equation I got:
\DeltaU = \frac{1}{2}m1v^{2}_{1} + \frac{1}{2}\frac{m^{2}_{1}}{m_{2}}v^{2}_{1}

So then I solved for v1 to get:

v1 = \sqrt{\frac{2kq_{1}q_{2}((1/(d-r1-r2)-(1/d))}{m_{1}+\frac{m^{2}_{1}}{m_{2}}}}

And v2 can be figured out the same way. However, I know for a fact this isn't the right answer.


In closing
I'm don't really know what I did wrong, but I suspect it's because I treated the two spheres as point charges, and I'm not sure if I'm justified in doing that.
 
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They move from a distance d to a distance r1+r2.
What is d-r1-r2?
Look at your potential energy again. You don't need any integral. Just take the difference between the final energy and initial energy. I would treat them as point charges.
 
Yup lol, that would do it. Thanks a lot for your help Nasu! :biggrin:
 
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