Question

A charge of -2.90 nC is placed at the origin of an xy-coordinate system, and a charge of 1.80 nC is placed on the y axis at y = 3.75 cm .

A) If a third charge, of 5.00 nC , is now placed at the point x = 3.50 cm , y = 3.75 cmcm find the xx and y components of the total force exerted on this charge by the other two charges.

Fx, Fy= ______ N

B) Find the magnitude of forces

F=________ N

C) Find the direction of the force

Angle= _______ degrees clockwise from the + x axis

Answer 1

Let q1 = -2.90nC located at (0, 0), q2 = 1.80nC located at (0, 3.75cm and q3 = 5nC lis located at (3.50cm, 3.75cm). The forces acting on the system are shown below.

(A) The magnitude of force on q3 due to q1 is,

Since q3 is positive and q1 is negative, this force is towards q1.

From the figure,

The x-component of F31 is given by,

The direction of this component of force is towards negative x-direction.

The y-component of F31 is given by,

The direction of this component of force is towards negative y-direction.

The magnitude of force on q3 due to q2 is,

Since q3 and q2 are positive, this force is away from q2.

The x-component of F32 is,

The direction of this component of force is towards positive x-direction.

The y-component of F32 is given by,

The magnitude of x and y-component of force on q3 due to other two charges is,

(B) The magnitude of force on the 5nC charge is,

So the magnitude of the force on 5nC charge is 4.85 x 10^-5N.

(C) The direction of this force of 5nC charge is,

So the direction of the force on 5nC charge is clockwise from positive x-axis.