Final answer:
The attractive force between a charged glass rod and a silk cloth is calculated using Coulomb's Law. Plugging in the given charges and distance, the force is determined to be approximately 7.50 N. If the charges were not point-like, the distribution of charges would need to be considered, possibly altering the calculated force.
Step-by-step explanation:
Calculating the Attractive Force Between Two Charges
To calculate the attractive force between a charged glass rod and a silk cloth, we can use Coulomb’s Law, which states that the force (F) between two point charges is proportional to the product of their charges (q1 and q2), and inversely proportional to the square of the distance (r) between them. The equation for Coulomb’s Law is F = k * |q1 * q2| / r^2, where k is the Coulomb’s constant (8.988 × 10^9 N·m^2/C^2).
Given:
- Charge on glass rod (q1) = 0.700 μC = 0.700 × 10^-6 C
- Charge on silk cloth (q2) = -0.600 μC = -0.600 × 10^-6 C
- Distance (r) = 12.0 cm = 0.12 m
Plug in the values into Coulomb’s Law equation:
F = (8.988 × 10^9 N·m^2/C^2) * |(0.700 × 10^-6 C) * (-0.600 × 10^-6 C)| / (0.12 m)^2
F = (8.988 × 10^9) * (0.700 × 10^-6) * (0.600 × 10^-6) / (0.0144)
After calculating, the attractive force comes out to be approximately 7.50 N, which corresponds to option (b).
Impact of Non-Point Charges
If the charges are distributed over an area and not concentrated at a point, the calculated force may differ because the distance between each infinitesimal charge element would vary. This could lead to a more complex integration process to account for the distributed charges and may result in a different force magnitude than what is predicted by the point charge approximation.