Question

An electron and a proton are separated by a distance of 1.0 m. What happens to the force between them if the electron moves 0.5 m away from the proton?

Answer 1

Explanation:

It is given that, an electron and a proton are separated by a distance of 1.0 m i.e d = 1 m . At this position, F is the force between them

$F=k\dfrac{q_1q_2}{1^2}$...............(1)

We need to find effect on force between them if the electron moves 0.5 m away from the proton. Let the force is F'.

$F'=k\dfrac{q_1q_2}{0.5^2}$...............(2)

On dividing equation (1) and (2) we get :

$\dfrac{F}{F'}=\dfrac{k\dfrac{q_1q_2}{1^2}}{k\dfrac{q_1q_2}{0.5^2}}$

$\dfrac{F}{F'}=0.25$

F' = 4 F

So, the distance between the electron and the proton is 0.5 m, the new force will be 4 times of previous force.