Determine the magnitude and direction of an electric field midway between two point charges of 1.2 μC and −2.4 μC that are situated 0.8 cm apart in a vacuum
Question
Determine the magnitude and direction of an electric field midway between two point charges of 1.2 μC and −2.4 μC that are situated 0.8 cm apart in a vacuum
Solution
To solve this problem, we need to use Coulomb's Law, which states that the electric field (E) created by a charge (q) is given by:
E = k*q/r^2
where k is Coulomb's constant (910^9 Nm^2/C^2), q is the charge, and r is the distance from the charge.
First, we need to convert the charges from μC to C (Coulombs) and the distance from cm to m:
q1 = 1.210^-6 C q2 = -2.410^-6 C d = 0.8*10^-2 m
The distance from each charge to the midpoint is d/2 = 0.4*10^-2 m.
Next, we calculate the electric field created by each charge at the midpoint:
E1 = kq1/(d/2)^2 E2 = kq2/(d/2)^2
The total electric field at the midpoint is the vector sum of E1 and E2. Since the charges have opposite signs, their electric fields at the midpoint are in opposite directions. Therefore, we subtract the magnitude of E2 from E1:
E_total = E1 - E2
Finally, the direction of the electric field is from the positive charge to the negative charge.
Similar Questions
What is the magnitude and direction of the electric field due to a -5.8 μC point charge at a distance of 9.8 m?*1 point5.326 kN/C towards the charge0.544 kN/C towards the charge5.686 kN/C away from the charge0.533 kN/C away from the charge
Determine the magnitude and direction of the electric field that is created at a distance of2.5 mm from a negative point charge of 7.6 nC
Consider a point 0.5 mm above the midpoint of the two charges. As you can verify by removing one of the positive charges, the electric field due to only one of the positive charges is about 18 V/mV/m . What is the magnitude of the total electric field due to both charges at this location?
Two point charges, q1 and q2 are separated by a distance d. For convenience, we will say that q1 is at the origin (0,0) on a coordinate system, q2 is at (d,0) and a reference point p is directly above q2 at a distance h at point (d,h). q1 has value 1μ C and q2 has value 8μ C. Take d= 1.1m and h= 0.7m. Note k=9×109Nm2/C2 What is the direction of the electric field at point p, as measured from a line parallel to the horizontal axis? Give your answer in degrees and to 2 significant digits.
Consider three charges at points 𝑥1, 𝑦1 = (2.6 m, 1.2 m), 𝑥2, 𝑦2 = (3.7 m, 7.8 m), 𝑥3, 𝑦3 = (9.3 m, 5.2 m) with charges 𝑞1 = 7 nC, 𝑞2 = −9.6 nC, 𝑞3 = 4.7 nC. What is the magnitude of the electric field at the origin (𝑥 = 0, 𝑦 = 0) in N/C? (10 marks)
Upgrade your grade with Knowee
Get personalized homework help. Review tough concepts in more detail, or go deeper into your topic by exploring other relevant questions.