Repulsion of Charged Pith Balls

Two equally charged pith balls of equal mass are separated by a distance r, due to their mutual electrostatic repulsion. Each ball hangs on a string of length l from a common point, making an angle θ with the horizontal. The value of the angle θ, the charge q, and the tension T of the string are calculated.

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DETAILS

By trigonometry, the angle is equal to (cos^(-1))(r/2l), the value of the charge is (Sqrt[(r^2)m g/(k tan θ)]), and the tension is m g/sin θ, where g is the acceleration of gravity and k is the constant in Coulomb's law.

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Contributed by: Enrique Zeleny

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