Question

Two point charges lie on the x axis. A charge of 9.0 μC is at the origin, and a charge of -5.5 μC is at x = 10 cm . A) At what position x would a third charge q3 be in equilibrium? B) Does your answer to part A depend on whether q3 is positive or negative? Explain.

Answer 1

(A) As both, the charges are opposite in nature and the third charge can't be put between the two charge as the force never be balanced out. Also, the +ve charge is higher in magnitude hence third the charge must be at large distance compared to the negative charge. Let the distance of the third charge is then

(B) No. Answer will not depend on the nature of because force due to and on will always be opposite to each other irrespective of nature of charge