Question

(a) How strong is the attractive force between a glass rod with a 0.700 μC charge and a silk cloth with a –0.600 μC charge, which are 12.0 cm apart, using the approximation that they act like point charges? (b) Discuss how the answer to this problem might be affected if the charges are distributed over some area and do not act like point charges.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) $F=-3.1465 N$

b) Greater attractive force

Explanation:

Assuming they are point charges, we can use coulomb's law to know the magnitude of the force between these objects:

$F=\frac{kq_1q_2}{d^2}$

Here, K is the Coulomb constant, $q_1$ and $q_2$ are the point charges and d is the distance bewteen the charges.

a) So, we have:

$F=\frac{(8.99*10^9\frac{Nm^2}{C^2})(7*10^{-6}C)(-6*10^{-6}C)}{12*10^{-2}m}\\F=-3.1465 N$

b) There will be a greater amount of charge on the side closest to the object with opposite charge, therefore this will increase the charge at that point, increasing the attractive force.