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whitejac
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Homework Statement
a small spherical insulator of mass 6.00×10−2 kg and charge +0.400 μC is hung by a thin wire of negligible mass. A charge of −0.220 μC is held 0.290 m away from the sphere and directly to the right of it, so the wire makes an angle theta with the vertical. What is the angle θ (k=1/4πϵ0=8.99×109 N · m2/C2)
Homework Equations
F = k q1q2/d^2
The Attempt at a Solution
So I can find the force acting on the mass. That's easy:
Plugging in I get (8.99x10^9)(0.4x10^-12)(-2.2x10^-12) / (0.29 * 0.29)
Which equals: (-7.9112 x 10^-15) / 0.0841
Which equals: (-9.41 x 10^-14)N
I cannot, however, figure out how to correlate this force to an act of motion. I could see it pulling laterally (the y component being negligable?) but how it could do them both with this stage of math because the string should theoretically be fixed in length and thus pull as an arc instea of a straight line, however I believe they are asking for a straight line.