A charge of 2C is at (5,1) and a charge of 3C is at (0,4). If both coordinates are in meters, what is the force between the charges?

1 Answer
May 20, 2017

Magnitude of F : 4.46×1010N

Direction of F1on2 : 31.0o

Direction of F2on1 : 211.0o

Explanation:

We can solve this equation by using Coulomb's law, which relates the magnitude of the electric force between two point charges, and in equation form is

F=14πε0|q1q2|r2

The quantity 14πε0 is a proportionality constant, and can sometimes be simply called k, and has a value of 14π(8.854×1012C2Nm2)

=8.988×109Nm2C2

The variables q1 and q2 are, in no particular order, the magnitude of the electric charges of the two point charges, which are 2C and 3C. The variable r is the distance between the two point charges, which is

(5m)2+(1m)2(0m)2+(4m)2=1.10m

Now that we have all the variables needed, the magnitude of the electric force between the two points is

F=8.988×109Nm2C2(|(2C)(3C)|(1.10m)2)

=4.46×1010N

Since both point charges are negative, the force is repulsive, and is the magnitude of the force the particles act upon each other.

If you want the direction of the force, which completes the vectoral description of the force of repulsion, we can use the fact that the force of object 1 acting on 2 is equal to the negative of the force of object 2 acting on 1.

If we let the point with charge 2C with coordinates (5,1) be 1, and the point with charge 3C with coordinates (0,4) be 2 (for convenience), the direction of F1on2 is

arctan(y2y1x2x1)=arctan(4m1m0m5m)=31.0o

The direction of F2on1 is simply the direction opposite to this in a circle:

180.0o+31.0o=211.0o