What is the Method for Calculating Stress Between Two Positive Charges?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the electric stress between two positive charges positioned closely together. The subject area pertains to electrostatics and the concept of electric stress in relation to charge interactions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the relationship between electric fields generated by charges and the concept of stress. There are discussions about using equations related to electric fields and stress, as well as considerations of charge density and surface area in the context of parallel plates.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants sharing their thoughts on how to approach the problem. Some guidance has been offered regarding the use of electric fields and charge density, while questions about the applicability of concepts to different charge configurations are also being raised.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the charge distribution may not be uniform, particularly for spherical conductors, which introduces complexity into the evaluation of electric stress.

quantumfoam
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Homework Statement



Hi guys! If I have two positive charges really close to each other, what would be the electric stress between the positive charges? Now I don't need a numerical answer, but I would like to know if my attempt is correct.

Homework Equations

σ=ε(EiEj-(1/2)δij(E^2))



The Attempt at a Solution

I figured that I should add the electric fields between the two positive charges and then use that as E in the equation above to calculate the stress between them.
 
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Stress? Force per area?
I would expect that you have two parallel plates with some constant charge density (?).
You can calculate the electric field of one plate and calculate the corresponding force on the electric charges in the other plate.
 
And then I could divide that by the surface area in which the electric field form one plate and charge from the other plate are interacting with each other?
 
And we could use the plates if you want:smile:
 
And yes they have constant charge density.
 
quantumfoam said:
And then I could divide that by the surface area in which the electric field form one plate and charge from the other plate are interacting with each other?
Which is equivalent to the surface of the plates, right.
 
Yes:smile: What if the two charges were spherical with the same radius? This would still apply right?
 
Charge distribution on those surfaces would not be uniform (at least for conductors) and you would get all sorts of messy integrals in the evaluation - but the basic concept is the same.
 

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