Posted by H on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 9:45pm.
The two charges should be placed at diagonally opposite corners, because in that case the open corners are equidistant from the positive and the negative charges, so there is no effect on the potential there.
Electrical potential is the force experienced by a unit test charge at a particular point. In this case that potential on the test charge is generated by the positive and the negative charges placed in the two corners of the square.
There are two possible configurations for the "occupied" corner charges: Adjacent and diagonal. One of these configurations would produce identical effects on the test charge no matter which unoccupied corner it was placed on. Do some drawing and i think you will "see" which arrangement works best.
Related Questions
Physics - Three Point charges have equal magnitudes, two being positive and one ...
Physics - Three Point charges have equal magnitudes, two being positive and one ...
physics - A charge of +4q is fixed to one corner of a square, while a charge of...
physics - Three point charges have equal magnitudes, two being positive and one ...
Physics - A charge of +2q is fixed to one corner of a square, while a charge of...
Physics - Two point charges are fixed on the y axis: a negative point charge q1...
Physics - Two point charges are fixed on the y axis: a negative point charge q1...
Physics - Given a square of sidelength a = 4 cm. We place a charged particle at ...
physics - Two point charges are fixed on the y axis: a negative point charge q1...
physics - Two point charges are fixed on the y axis: a negative point charge q1...
For Further Reading
