Chapter 21, problem 009 two identical conducting spheres, fixed in place, attract each other with an electrostatic force of 0.121 n when their center-to-center separation is 64.1 cm. the spheres are then connected by a thin conducting wire. when the wire is removed, the spheres repel each other with an electrostatic force of 0.0443 n. of the initial charges on the spheres, with a positive net charge, what was (a) the negative charge on one of them and (b) the positive charge on the other? (assume the negative charge has smaller magnitude.)

a) -1.325 μC

b) 4.17μC

Explanation:

First, you need to know that charge is conserved. So, the adition of the charges, as there is no lost in charge, should always be the same. Also, after the wire is removed, both spheres will have the same charge, trying to find equilibrium. In summary:

We know both q1f and q2f must be positive, because the negative charge at the beginning was the the smaller.

The electrostatic force is equal to:

K is the Coulomb constant, equal to 9*10^9 Nm^2/C^2

Now, we are told that the electrostatic force after the wire is equal to 0.0443 N:

Originally, the force is negative because it was an attraction force, therefore, its direction was opposite to the direction of the repulsive force after the wire:

Solving the quadratic equation:

for this values q_1 wil be:

So as you can see, the negative charge will always be -1.325 μC and the positive 4.17μC