Question

Two identical conducting spheres each having a radius of 0.500 cm are connected by a light, 2.45-m-long conducting wire. A charge of 23.0 μC is placed on one of the conductors. Assume the surface distribution of charge on each sphere is uniform. Determine the tension in the wire.

Part 1 of 4 - Conceptualize:

Draw a picture of the physical setup described in the problem statement. Imagine that we add charge to one of the spheres as mentioned in the problem statement. Because both spheres are conducting and the wire is conducting, the entire combination is a single conductor. Therefore, the total charge q will distribute itself between the two spheres. Because we have no information about the wire except for its length, we will assume that any charge on the wire is negligible. Therefore, because the spheres are identical, the charge on each sphere will be the same,

q/2.

The spheres have charges of the same sign, so they will repel, creating a tension in the wire to keep the spheres from flying apart. Finally, the spheres are small compared to the length of the wire, so we will model them as particles and ignore any variation of electric field across the diameter of a sphere.

We'll use the symbols q for the charge placed on the conducting system, r for the radius of each sphere, and ℓ for the length of the wire.

(1) Let us focus on one of the spheres after the charge has been placed on the system. Which combination of analysis models below correctly describes one of the spheres in this situation and will be of most use to us for solving this problem?

particle in equilibrium and particle under constant velocity

particle in a field (electric) and particle in uniform circular motion    

particle in a field (electric) and particle in equilibrium

particle in a field (electric) and particle under a net force

none of the above

Answer 1