Question

Two identical small metal spheres with q1 > 0 and |q1| > |q2| attract each other with a force of magnitude 72.1 mN when separated by a distance of 1.41 m . F21 F12 1.41 m q1 q2 r1 = 21 µm r2 = 21 µm The spheres are then brought together until they are touching, enabling the spheres to attain the same final charge q. q1 → q q2 → q ∆ q After the charges on the spheres have come to equilibrium, they spheres are separated so that they are again 1.41 m apart. F21 F12 1.41 m q q Now the spheres repel each other with a force of magnitude 21.63 mN. What is the final charge on the sphere on the right? The value of the Coulomb constant is 8.98755 × 109 N · m2 /C 2 . Answer in units of µC. 0What is the initial charge q1 on the first sphere? Answer in units of µC.

Answer 1

1) $+2.19\mu C$

The electrostatic force between two charges is given by

$F=k\frac{q_1 q_2}{r^2}$ (1)

where

k is the Coulomb's constant

q1, q2 are the two charges

r is the separation between the charges

When the two spheres are brought in contact with each other, the charge equally redistribute among the two spheres, such that each sphere will have a charge of

$\frac{Q}{2}$

where Q is the total charge between the two spheres.

So we can actually rewrite the force as

$F=k\frac{(\frac{Q}{2})^2}{r^2}$

And since we know that

r = 1.41 m (distance between the spheres)

$F= 21.63 mN = 0.02163 N$

(the sign is positive since the charges repel each other)

We can solve the equation for Q:

$Q=2\sqrt{\frac{Fr^2}{k}}=2\sqrt{\frac{(0.02163)(1.41)^2}{8.98755\cdot 10^9}}}=4.37\cdot 10^{-6} C$

So, the final charge on the sphere on the right is

$\frac{Q}{2}=\frac{4.37\cdot 10^{-6} C}{2}=2.19\cdot 10^{-6}C=+2.19\mu C$

2) $q_1 = +6.70 \mu C$

Now we know the total charge initially on the two spheres. Moreover, at the beginning we know that

$F = -72.1 mN = -0.0721 N$ (we put a negative sign since the force is attractive, which means that the charges have opposite signs)

r = 1.41 m is the separation between the charges

And also,

$q_2 = Q-q_1$

So we can rewrite eq.(1) as

$F=k \frac{q_1 (Q-q_1)}{r^2}$

Solving for q1,

$Fr^2=k (q_1 Q-q_1^2})\\kq_1^2 -kQ q_1 +Fr^2 = 0$

Since $Q=4.37\cdot 10^{-6} C$, we can substituting all numbers into the equation:

$8.98755\cdot 10^9 q_1^2 -3.93\cdot 10^4 q_1 -0.141 = 0$

which gives two solutions:

$q_1 = 6.70\cdot 10^{-6} C\\q_2 = -2.34\cdot 10^{-6} C$

Which correspond to the values of the two charges. Therefore, the initial charge q1 on the first sphere is

$q_1 = +6.70 \mu C$