Question

Four +2 μC charges are placed at the positions (10 cm, 0 cm), (−10 cm, 0 cm), (0 cm, 10 cm), and (0 cm, −10 cm) such that they form a diamond shape centered on the origin. A charge of +5 μC is placed at the origin. If the force between a +2 μC and a +5 μC charge separated by 10 cm has a magnitude of 9 N, which of the following can we say about the force on the +5 μC charge at the origin in this case?

Answer 1

The force will be zero

Step-by-step explanation:

Due to the symmetric location of the +2μC charges the forces the excert over the +5μC charge will cancel each other resulting in a net force with a magnitude of zero.However in this case it would be an unstable equilibrium, very vulnerable to a kind of bucking. If the central charge is not perfectly centered on the vertical axis the forces will have components in that axis that will add together instead of canceling each other.