Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 21 - Coulomb's Law - Problems - Page 626: 16b

Answer

$\frac{q_2}{q_1}= 9.0$

Work Step by Step

On the graph, we can see that when particle 3 is at $x = 2.0~cm$, the forces on particle 3 due to the other two particles have the same magnitude and they are in the opposite direction. Therefore, $q_1$ and $q_2$ have the same charge. We can consider the point $x = 2.0~cm$ to find $\frac{q_2}{q_1}$: $\frac{q_1~ q_3}{4\pi~\epsilon_0~r_1^2}= \frac{q_2~ q_3}{4\pi~\epsilon_0~r_2^2}$ $\frac{q_1}{r_1^2}= \frac{q_2}{r_2^2}$ $\frac{q_2}{q_1}= \frac{r_2^2}{r_1^2}$ $\frac{q_2}{q_1}= \frac{(6.0~cm)^2}{(2.0~cm)^2}$ $\frac{q_2}{q_1}= 9.0$
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