ASSIGNMENT

1
04.09.2012

QUESTION 2
Answer: a. 3, 1, 2 b. they are the same Explanation: The spheres are conducting. When they touch, the charges are free to move. Like charges will attempt to move away from each other as far as possible. For pair (1), three positive charges will move from left to right, and two negative charges will move from right to left. The total number of charge that is transferred is 3+2=5. The net charge on the sphere on the left is 3-2=+1.

Following similar reasoning with pairs (2) and (3) will give the following result: Magnitude of charge transferred Charge left on the positively charged sphere (1) 5 (2) 1 (3) 13

A student pointed out that in reality, only electrons (and therefore negative charges) move. This doesnt change the answers, but it changes how you understand the question a little bit. Before we thought of the positive charges and the negative charges satisfying their own individual equilibrium conditions. Now, we have to think of the electrons moving to satisfy some overall equilibrium situation. That equilibrium situation is when both spheres have the same net charge.

QUESTION 3
Answer: (a) and (b) are the only situations where an electron will be in equilibrium in some location left of both particles. Explanation: We are looking for situations where the electron will be in equilibrium on the left. Equilibrium means that the sum of all the forces must equal to zero. Because in all the situations there are only two forces that will act on the electron, we are looking for situations where the two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. In all four situations, one charge is negative and one charge is positive. This means that the two forces on the electron will always be opposite in direction. So the only remaining question is in which situations will there be a location left of the two charges where an electron will experience two forces of equal magnitude. For situations (c) and (d), it should be fairly clear that there is no location left of the two particles where the two forces will be equal. The force from the right most particle will always be weaker than the force from the particle on the left. This is because not only is the magnitude of the charge smaller, but the distance is always larger. The force from the particle on the right, therefore, will always be smaller. Situations (a) and (b) are less obvious. The particle on the right has larger charge, so the force will be larger. But it is also further away, so the force will be weaker. The question is whether or not there is any location where the larger charge will compensate for the larger distance. One way you can convince yourself is to do several test scenarios. Start by drawing a small circle around the left particle. This circle represents places where the force from the left particle on an electron will be equal in magnitude. Now draw a circle around the right particle that represents a force of equal magnitude as the previous circle. This circle will have to be larger. Where the two circles intersect (if they do intersect) is where the forces are the same. If you keep doing this for larger and larger circles, you will find that the circle on

the right will catch up with the circle on the left and eventually intersect it on the left side. Another way to convince yourself is to graph the following to equations: ! = ! = 1 !

1 + 1 !

You may have to change the window size to see the effect. What you are looking for is the intersection of the two graphs. At the intersection, the values of y1 and y2 are equal. You can also tell that after that point, y2 begins to exceed y1 in magnitude. If you are still not convinced, use the following equation. 3 = ! + ! e is the charge of an electron, r is the distance from the electron to the left particle, and d is the distance between the two particles. It is difficult to find a nice analytic solution for this, so just use a number instead of d. You should be able to prove that there exists a positive value for r that satisfies this equation.

QUESTION 5
Answer: = Explanation: Charges that have the same charge, are the same distance away from the center, and are on opposite sides of the circle cancel each other out; they exert forces of equal magnitude but opposite direction on the charge in the center. The only charge that doesnt get cancelled out is the charge of +2q a distance r vertically from the center. By applying Coulombs law, we can find the magnitude of the force and the direction. 2! . !

QUESTION 7
Answer: (b) and (c), (a) Explanation:

Inside a spherical conductor, the net-force on any particle is 0. Therefore the force on 6q in (a) is 0. Outside a spherical conductor, the spherical distribution of charge can be modeled as a point charge located at the center of the sphere. Therefore, the !!" !!" force in (b) is !! . The force in (c) is !! . Note that the distance between the center of the sphere and the particle is always d. We never have to use R.