A charged particle P is situated in a vacuum at a distance x from the centre of a charged
conducting sphere of radius r, as illustrated in Fig. 5.1.
For the particle P outside the conducting sphere, the charge on the sphere may be assumed to
be a point charge at its centre.
a) State Coulomb’s law.
b) The sphere and the particle P are both charged positively.
1. State the direction of the force acting on particle P.
2. State the position of particle P for the force to be maximum.
3. Determine the ratio:
force on particle P at x = r
force on particle P at x = 4r
1
Expert's answer
2019-10-01T12:50:28-0400
a) In this case, the Coulomb law looks like:
f=x2kqQ
q and Q are particle and sphere charges.
b1) force acts in the direction "from the sphere"
b2) the force is maximum when the particle is on the surface of the sphere
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