Question

You are whirling a charged tennis ball attached to a string in a horizontal circle above your head. The string is 1 meter in length. The tennis ball is 0.05 kg, and it has a charge of 3.2 x 10-9C on it, and you are whirling it at a speed of v = 1.5 m/s. Your "friend" brings a sphere nearby, which he is hoping will break the tension on the string and send the tennis ball flying. He has charged the sphere to -1mC. How close (in meters) must he bring the sphere in order to overcome the tension force and break the string?

Answer 1