Opposite Charged Plates with Sphere

AI Thread Summary
A small sphere with a mass of 2.90 g is suspended between two charged plates, and the problem involves calculating the potential difference that causes the thread to form a 30-degree angle with the vertical. The relevant equation includes the electric force and gravitational force acting on the sphere. There was confusion regarding the correct value of gravitational acceleration, which should be 9.8 m/s², and the charge of the sphere, which was initially misrepresented as 9.70×10^6 C instead of 9.70×10^-6 C. After correcting these values and converting the mass from grams to kilograms, the correct solution was found. The discussion highlights the importance of careful unit conversion and accurate data entry in physics problems.
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Homework Statement


A small sphere with mass 2.90 g hangs by a thread between two large parallel vertical plates 0.05 m apart. The plates are insulating and have uniform surface charge densities + \sigma and - \sigma . The charge on the sphere is q = 9.70×10^6 C.

What potential difference between the plates will cause the thread to assume an angle of 30.0 deg with the vertical

Homework Equations



Delta(V) = Ed = \frac {F_{elec} * d} {q} = \frac {(mg)*(d)*tan(30)} {q}

The Attempt at a Solution



\frac {(2.90*8.90)*(0.05)*tan(30)} {9.70*10^{-6}}

The online program complains that its wrong, I'm wondering is the equation correct?
 
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stylez03 said:

Homework Statement


A small sphere with mass 2.90 g hangs by a thread between two large parallel vertical plates 0.05 m apart. The plates are insulating and have uniform surface charge densities + \sigma and - \sigma . The charge on the sphere is q = 9.70×10^6 C.

What potential difference between the plates will cause the thread to assume an angle of 30.0 deg with the vertical

Homework Equations



Delta(V) = Ed = \frac {F_{elec} * d} {q} = \frac {(mg)*(d)*tan(30)} {q}

The Attempt at a Solution



\frac {(2.90*8.90)*(0.05)*tan(30)} {9.70*10^{-6}}

The online program complains that its wrong, I'm wondering is the equation correct?

g=9.8 not 8.9?
 
lylos said:
g=9.8 not 8.9?

That was actually a typo, I used 9.8 and still no luck.

The computation comes out to:

-9.38*10^{-7}

Can anyone confirm this?
 
Last edited:
Convert 2.90 from g to kg. Also you are using 9.70×10^-6 C in the denominator, but the initial value was 9.70×10^6 C.
 
ranger said:
Convert 2.90 from g to kg. Also you are using 9.70×10^-6 C in the denominator, but the initial value was 9.70×10^6 C.

The mass was what threw it off, actually Q was 10^-6, I guess copying it over from the flash page removed the negative, though I had that in my solution. Also I figured out the answer. THanks!
 
Last edited:
http://www.krellinst.org/UCES/archive/resources/trig/node10.html"

To convert from degrees to radians, multiply degrees by pi/180.

To convert from radians to degrees, multiply by 180/pi.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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