If two identical charges are placed at a distance of 1m apart, what is the electric field at a point midway between them?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If two identical charges are placed at a distance of 1m apart, what is the electric field at a point midway between them?
0 N/C
kq/2
kq
kq/4
The electric fields due to both charges at the midpoint cancel each other, resulting in a net electric field of 0 N/C.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If two identical charges are placed at a distance of 1m apart, what is the electric field at a point midway between them?
Solution: The electric fields due to both charges at the midpoint cancel each other, resulting in a net electric field of 0 N/C.
Steps: 7
Step 1: Understand that we have two identical charges, which means they have the same type of charge (both positive or both negative).
Step 2: Place the two charges 1 meter apart. This means the distance from each charge to the midpoint is 0.5 meters.
Step 3: At the midpoint, we need to find the electric field created by each charge.
Step 4: The electric field created by a positive charge points away from the charge, while the electric field created by a negative charge points towards the charge.
Step 5: Since both charges are identical and of the same type, the electric field from each charge at the midpoint will point in opposite directions.
Step 6: Because the electric fields from both charges are equal in strength but opposite in direction, they will cancel each other out.
Step 7: Therefore, the net electric field at the midpoint between the two charges is 0 N/C.