two pith balls each with +3nC of excess charge that are 10m apart, and two pith balls each with +2nC of charge that are 6m apart
what is the magnitude of the repulsive force on each of the +3nC pith balls in N?
To find the magnitude of the repulsive force on each of the +3nC pith balls, we can use Coulomb's law, which states that the force between two charged objects is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
The magnitude of the force between two charged objects can be calculated using the formula:
F = k * (|q1| * |q2|) / r^2
where F is the force, k is the electrostatic constant (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.
For the +3nC pith balls, the charge is +3nC and the distance between them is 10m. Plugging these values into the formula:
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * (|3nC| * |3nC|) / (10m)^2
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * (9nC^2) / 100m^2
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * (81nC^2 / 10000m^2)
F = (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2) * 0.0081 N * m^2 / C^2
F = 7.29 N
Therefore, the magnitude of the repulsive force on each of the +3nC pith balls is 7.29 Newtons.