Question

Two charged bees land simultaneously on flowers that are separated by a finite distance. For a few moments, the charged bees rest on the flowers. The charged bees both generate an electric field, and while the charged bees are resting on the flowers, the net electric field at some distance between them is zero.
Required:
Do the bees have the same or opposite signs of charge?

Answer 1

Answer:

the charge of the bees must be of the same sign

Explanation:

The electric field is given by the relation

            E = k q / r²

This electric field has outgoing direction if the charge is positive and incoming towards the charge if it is negative.

The force generated by this field on a test charge is

            F = q E

Since the charge is a scalar, the direction of the force is the same as the electric field.

In this case the two flowers are at a certain distance and the two charged bees land on them, so the force on a test charge is the vector sum of the force that each bee creates, so that this force is subtracted from the two bees must have the same charge sign.

The force created by the bee on the left goes to the right and the force created by the bee on the right goes to the left, so the forces are subtracted,

Consequently the charge of the bees must be of the same sign