Assignment 1

Two charges Q1 and Q2 of mass 1 kg each have a charge of +1 C and -1 C respectively. The
charges are separated by a distance of 1 m in free space. Given free space permittivity 8.85 x
10-12 F/m and Gravitational constant 6.67 x 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2

Based on information above, answer questions 1 - 5

1. What is the magnitude of the electrostatic force (FE) acting on Q1 due to Q2?

Answer
𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹𝐸 = = 8.98 𝑋 109 𝑁
4𝜋𝜖𝑜 𝑟 2

2. What is the gravitational force (FG) acting between them?

Answer

𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2
𝐹𝐺 = = 6.67 𝑋 10−11 𝑁
𝑟2

3. Calculate the ratio between electrostatic and gravitational force (FE/FG)

Answer

𝐹𝐸
= 1.35 𝑋 1020
𝐹𝐺

4. If the distance between Q1 and Q2 is doubled, what is the new value ofelectrostatic
force FE?

Answer
𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹𝐸 =
4𝜋𝜖𝑜 𝑟 2
𝐹𝐸 8.98 𝑋109
𝐴𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐹𝐸′ = = = 2.245 𝑋 109 𝑁
4 4
5. If both charges are placed 1 m apart in a liquid with a dielectric constant of 4, what is
the value of electrostatic force FE?

Answer
 𝑞1 𝑞2 𝐹𝐸 8.98 𝑋109
𝐹𝐸′′ = = = = 2.245 𝑋 109 𝑁
4𝜋𝜖𝑟 𝜖𝑜 𝑟 2 4 4

6. Given the line charge densityρ = 10 C/m, calculate the charge enclosed over a length
of 10 m.

Answer

𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 = 𝜌𝑙 = 10 𝑋 10 = 100𝐶

𝑥
7. A line charge distribution is given by 𝜌𝑜 𝑒 −𝑎 C/m. Calculate the charge enclosed over
length of –a/2 to a/2.

Answer
𝑥 1 1
𝑎/2 −
𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 = −𝑎/2
𝜌𝑜 𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑥 = −𝜌𝑜 𝑎(𝑒 −2 − 𝑒 2 ) = 1.042(𝜌𝑜 𝑎)

8. For a charge density given by 𝑒 −𝑥−𝛼𝑧 C/m3, find the charge enclosed by a cuboid with
one vertex at origin. Given the length of cuboid in the +x direction = a, +y direction =
b and +z direction = 1/α.

Answer
1
𝑏 𝑎
𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐 = 𝛼
0 0 0
𝑒 −𝑥−𝛼𝑧 𝑑𝑥𝑑𝑦𝑑𝑧 = 𝑏𝛼(𝑒 −𝑎 − 1) 𝑒 −1 − 1 = −0.632𝑏𝛼(𝑒 −𝑎 − 1)

Note: α was not considered in the answer and same was announced on the portal

For two forces given as

𝐹1 = 3𝑥 − 2𝑦 + 3𝑧 , 𝐹2 = 𝑏𝑥 − 2𝑦 − 3𝑧

Based on information above, answer questions 9-11

9. What is b such that 𝐹1 is perpendicular to 𝐹2 ?

Answer

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑭𝟏 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑭𝟐 , 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 0

𝑭𝟏 . 𝑭𝟐 = 3𝑏 + 4 − 9 = 0
5
𝑏 = = 1.667
3
10. What is the magnitude of 𝐹1 and 𝐹2 for the value of b calculated above?
Answer

𝐅𝟏 = 32 + −2 2 + 32 = 4.69 𝐅𝟐 = 1.6672 + 22 + (−3)2 = 3.8

11. If another force 𝐹3 is three times 𝐹1 . What is 𝐹3 − 𝐹1 ?

Answer

𝑭𝟑 − 𝑭𝟏 = 3𝑭𝟏 − 𝑭𝟏 = 2𝑭𝟏 = 6𝑥 − 4𝑦 + 6𝑧

12. If point P is located at (3,3,3), Q at (1,1,1) and origin at O in a rectangular coordinate

system, find 𝑃𝑄 and unit vector in direction of 𝑃𝑄 given by 𝑃𝑄

Answer

𝑂𝑄 = 1𝑥 + 1𝑦 + 1𝑧, 𝑂𝑃 = 3𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 3𝑧
𝑃𝑄 = −2𝑥 − 2𝑦 − 2𝑧
𝑃𝑄
𝑃𝑄 = |𝑃𝑄 | = −0.577(𝑥 + 𝑦 + 𝑧)

13. From Figure 1, what is the net force, assuming each force has an equal magnitude of
F?

Figure 1
Answer

𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹1 𝑐𝑜𝑠 30𝑜 + 𝐹2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 45𝑜 − 𝐹3 𝑠𝑖𝑛 45𝑜 − 𝐹4 𝑐𝑜𝑠 60𝑜 + 𝐹5 𝑐𝑜𝑠 60𝑜
𝐹𝑥 = 0.866 𝐹
𝐹𝑦 = 𝐹1 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30𝑜 + 𝐹2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 45𝑜 + 𝐹3 𝑐𝑜𝑠 45𝑜 − 𝐹4 𝑠𝑖𝑛 60𝑜 − 𝐹5 𝑠𝑖𝑛 60𝑜
𝐹𝑦 = 0.182𝐹
𝐹𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝐹𝑥 𝑥 + 𝐹𝑦 𝑦 = 0.866F𝑥 + 0.182𝐹𝑦

14. For an infinite line of charge of charge density of 10 C/m on the z axis, what is the
magnitude of Electric field at r = 10 m in x-y plane?

Answer
𝜆
𝐸 = 2𝜋𝜖 = 17.96 x 109 N/C
𝑜𝑟

Note: This answer will be reflected correctly in the portal after reevaluation.
2
Surface charge density is given by 𝑘 𝑟𝑒 −𝑟 𝐶/𝑚2 where k is a constant and r is the radial
distance.

Based on information above, answer questions 15 and 16

15. Find the net charge enclosed by a circle or radius a?

Answer

Note: Questions 15 and 16 were framed wrong and hence would not be considered in
evaluation, same was announced on the portal. The solution provided is for the surface
2
charge density given by 𝑘𝑒 −𝑟 𝐶/𝑚2
2𝜋 𝑎 𝑎
−𝑟 2 2
𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐 = 𝑘𝑒 𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑑𝜙 = 2𝜋𝑘 𝑟𝑒 −𝑟 𝑑𝑟
0 0 0
𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝 = 𝑟 2
𝑎2

𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐 = 𝜋𝑘 𝑒 −𝑝 𝑑𝑝
0
2
𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐 = 𝑘𝜋 1 − 𝑒 −𝑎

16. What is the charge at 𝑎 → ∞?

Answer
 𝑄𝑒𝑛𝑐 𝑎 → ∞ = 𝑘𝜋 𝐶

17. Convert the point (2,π/3,5) from cylindrical to rectangular coordinates

Answer
𝜋
𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑟 = 2, 𝜙 = 3 , 𝑧 = 5
𝑥 = 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜙 = 1, 𝑦 = 𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙 = 1.732, 𝑧 = 5