QuestionA point charge of is placed at the origin. There is an external uniform field . What is the net force on a charge placed at ?
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Studdy Solution
STEP 1
What is this asking?
Find the total force on a charge due to both a point charge at the origin and a uniform electric field.
Watch out!
Don't forget to consider *both* the force due to the point charge *and* the force due to the external field!
Also, remember those vector components!
STEP 2
1. Calculate the force due to the point charge.
2. Calculate the force due to the electric field.
3. Find the total force.
STEP 3
We'll use Coulomb's Law to find the force between the two charges.
Coulomb's Law says the force between two charges is:
where is Coulomb's constant (), and are the magnitudes of the charges, and is the distance between them.
STEP 4
The first charge is at the origin and the second charge is at .
The distance between them is:
STEP 5
Now, plug everything into Coulomb's Law:
STEP 6
Since both charges are positive, the force is repulsive, pointing away from the origin.
The direction of the force is the same as the direction of the vector pointing from the origin to , which makes a **45-degree angle** with both the x and y axes.
STEP 7
The x and y components of the force are equal since the angle is 45 degrees.
We can find the components using:
STEP 8
The force on a charge in an electric field is given by: Here, and .
STEP 9
So, and .
STEP 10
Now, we add the x and y components of the forces we calculated:
STEP 11
The total force is:
STEP 12
The net force on the charge is .
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