Final answer:
To calculate the electric potential energy of a 38µC charge placed 36cm away, you need a reference charge to form a two-charge system. Assuming another point charge like 5.0µC for the calculation, apply Coulomb's law with the distance converted to meters to get the potential energy in joules.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the electric potential energy of a 38µC point charge placed 36cm away, we use the formula for the electric potential energy between two point charges:
U = k * (Q1 * Q2) / r
Where:
- U is the electric potential energy,
- k is Coulomb's constant (8.99 × 109 Nm2/C2),
- Q1 and Q2 are the magnitudes of the two charges, and
- r is the distance in meters between the charges.
Assuming you mean the potential energy due to some other reference charge (since we need two charges to calculate potential energy), and taking the reference charge to be like one from your examples, say Q = 5.0 µC, the calculation would be:
U = (8.99 × 109 Nm2/C2) * (38µC * 5.0µC) / 0.36m
To solve this, first convert the microcoulombs to coulombs:
Q1 = 38µC = 38 × 10-6C
Q2 = 5.0µC = 5.0 × 10-6C
Then plug in the values:
U = (8.99 × 109) * (38 × 10-6C * 5.0 × 10-6C) / 0.36m
This will give you the electric potential energy in joules.