2. coulomb's law allows us to find the force between two point charges.
+
three point charges are held fixed in place as shown.
consider the following comment about this situation:
"there will be zero net electric force on the charge in the middle due to
the other charges. using coulomb's law, the force due to the +q charge is positive, and the force
due to the -q charge is negative. the forces cancel."
a. do you agree with this statement? explain.
b. how does coulomb's law apply to situations in which there are more than two point charges
3. each of the following parts involves a comparison of the net electric force exerted on a positive
charge + in two different cases.
a.
in cases a and b shown at right there are
two positive point charges + each a
distances away from a third positive point
charge +9.
is the net electric force on the + charge in
case a greater than, less than or equal to
the net electric force on the + charge in
case b? explain.
tgo
o+q
tgo
s
0+0
+
case a
case b
+29
b. in case c, two positive point charges +2q
are each a distances away from a third
positive point charge +q. in case d, four
positive point charges +q are each a
distance s away from a fifth positive point
charge +9. (the angle a shown is the
same in both cases.)
a
tgo
soto
+q o
- soto
so +0
a.
+29
case c
case d
is the net electric force on the + charge in
case c greater than, less than or equal to
the net electric force on the + charge in
case d? explain