Final answer:
According to Coulomb's Law, the force between two charges is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. When the charges are decreased by 1/6, the new force is 1/36 of the original force.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Coulomb's Law, the force between two charges is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
In this case, when the charges are decreased by 1/6, the distance between them remains the same.
As a result, the new force is determined by the equation:
New Force = (Original Force) * (Original Charge)^2 / (New Charge)^2
Using the given values, the original force was 12N, and the new charge is 1/6 of the original charge.
Plugging these values into the equation, we can calculate that the new force is 1/36 of the original force, which is approximately 0.33N.