Two charges (+4C and -3C)are separated by .00002m. What is the electrostatic force and its direction?
Using Coulomb's law, I arrived at 2.696 x 10^20 J. Would the direction be said to be "towards the positive charge"?
Is this correct? Thanks
The forces are equal and opposite.
Since unlike charges attract, the force on the - is toward the + and the force on the + is toward the -
I did not check your arithmetic, Your approach using Coulomb is correct.
To calculate the electrostatic force between the two charges, we can use Coulomb's law:
F = k * (q1 * q2) / r^2
where F is the electrostatic force, k is Coulomb's constant (8.99 x 10^9 N m^2/C^2), q1 and q2 are the magnitudes of the charges (+4C and -3C), and r is the separation distance (0.00002m).
Plugging the given values into the formula, we have:
F = (8.99 x 10^9 N m^2/C^2) * ((+4C) * (-3C)) / (0.00002m)^2
= (8.99 x 10^9 N m^2/C^2) * (-12C^2) / (4 x 10^-8 m^2)
= (8.99 x 10^9 N m^2/C^2) * (-12C^2) * (2.5 x 10^7 m^2)
= -269,400,000 N
Therefore, the electrostatic force between the charges is -269,400,000 N.
The negative sign indicates that the force is attractive, meaning the charges will be pulled towards each other.
Since the force is experienced by the +4C charge due to the -3C charge, we can say that the direction of the force is towards the -3C charge.
To calculate the electrostatic force between two charges using Coulomb's law, you can use the formula:
F = k * (|q1| * |q2|) / r^2
where F is the electrostatic force, k is the electrostatic constant (approximately 9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2), |q1| and |q2| are the magnitudes of the charges, and r is the distance between the charges.
In this case, you have q1 = +4C, q2 = -3C, and r = 0.00002m.
Substituting these values into the formula:
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * (|4C| * |-3C|) / (0.00002m)^2
Calculating the magnitudes of the charges:
|4C| = 4C
|-3C| = 3C
And plugging these values into the formula:
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * (4C * 3C) / (0.00002m)^2
= (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * 12C^2 / (0.0000000004m^2)
= (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * 30,000,000,000C^2
Evaluating the expression, the electrostatic force is:
F = 2.7 x 10^20 N (to two significant figures)
Now, to determine the direction of the electrostatic force, we need to consider the charges. In this case, the two charges have opposite signs, which means they attract each other. Since the positive charge (+4C) is more massive, we can say that the electrostatic force is "towards the positive charge".
Therefore, yes, your calculation of the electrostatic force and its direction is correct. The force is approximately 2.7 x 10^20 N and it is directed towards the positive charge (+4C).