Figure 3
b. what is the net electrostatic force on charge due to gi and q2, we
and 92 -5.0 c and they are placed as shown in figure 4. take o. =* 2.0 uc,
(10 marks)
und 2
4.0 m
3.0 m
3.0 m
3,00)
ac

Explanation:

Electrostatic Forces

When two point charges and are placed nearby at a distance r, they exert a force to each other which magnitude can be computed by the Coulomb's formula

Where k is the constant of proportionality

Two positive or negative charges repel each other, one positive and the other negative attract themselves. when analyzing the effects of multiple charges in one, two, or three dimensions, we must consider the forces as vectors.

The figure provided in the question shows 3 point charges, one will receive forces from two charges called and . We can see there is some symmetry in the arrangement, which will simplify our calculations

The force has components

Where is the angle it forms with the positive x-axis. We can see by triangle construction that this angle can be computed by

r is the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the charges, so

Then, we have

We'll now compute

We form the vector

When computing we see some symmetries: The charges and have the same magnitude and they exert the same force on Q but pointed in another direction. We also note the angle \theta under the horizontal is the same as the one we have found because the right triangle is congruent with the left triangle. The only difference is that the vertical component of points downwards, so

It's clear that the vertical components of the net force will eventually cancel and the net force will be horizontal