The force on charge Y is the same as the force on charge X
Explanation:
We can answer this problem by applying Newton's third law of motion, which states that:
"When an object A exerts a force on object B (action force), then object B exerts an equal and opposite force on object A (reaction force)"
In this problem, we can identify object A as charge X and object B as charge Y. The magnitude of the electrostatic force between them is given by
(1)
where:
is the Coulomb's constant
are the two charges
r is the separation between the two charges
According to Newton's third law, therefore, the magnitude of the force exerted by charge X on charge Y is the same as the force exerted by charge Y on charge X (and it is given by eq.(1)), however their directions are opposite.
Learn more about Newton's third law:
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