Three charges are arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides of 4 cm. The coordinates and corresponding charge values are as follows: +4q at (-2,0); +2q at (2,0); -q at (0,a). The elementary charge of an electron is given by q = -1.602 x 10^-19 C.

a) Determine the y-coordinate a of the third charge

b) Determine the electric field at the centre of the equilateral triangle

c) Determine the torque that acts on the dipole and the work done to align the dipole depicted in the picture the center of the equilateral triangle with the resulting field at the corner. The dipole exhibits a dipole

Question

Three charges are arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides of 4 cm. The coordinates and corresponding charge values are as follows: +4q at (-2,0); +2q at (2,0); -q at (0,a). The elementary charge of an electron is given by q = -1.602 x 10^-19 C.

a) Determine the y-coordinate a of the third charge

b) Determine the electric field at the centre of the equilateral triangle

c) Determine the torque that acts on the dipole and the work done to align the dipole depicted in the picture the center of the equilateral triangle with the resulting field at the corner. The dipole exhibits a dipole

anonymous · Answer

To start for part A, we can draw the equilateral triangle and use that to determine the coordinate of the third charge.

For part B, we need to calculate the gravitational field strength from each of the three charges at the location of the center using the equation
$$E = k _{c}q/ r ^{2}$$
Then add those values vectorally. We can use the symmetry about the y axis to make that vector addition a little easier.

For C I do not have the picture and perhaps not enough info to help :)

anonymous · Answer

ok thankyou for your help :) it will give me a start x much appreciated