Question

.A millimeter cube of carbon the size of a pencil point contains about 77 coulombs of positive and negative charge. If you could separate all of the positive and negative charges by a distance of one meter the attractive force between them would be about _________

Answer 1

`5.36\cdot 10^(13)N`

Step-by-step explanation:

The magnitude of the electricforce between two charges is given by the formula:

`F=k(q_1 q_2)/(r^2)`

where:

`k=8.99\cdot 10^9 Nm^(-2)C^(-2)` is the Coulomb's constant

`q_1, q_2` are the two charges

r is the separation between the two charges

And the force is:

- Repulsive if the two charges have same sign

- Attractive if the two charges have opposite sign

In this problem, we have:

`q_1 = 77 C` is the magnitude of the positive charge

`q_2 = 77 C` is the magnitude of the negative charge

r = 1 m is the distance between the two charges

So, the magnitude of the electrostatic force is

`F=(8.99\cdot 10^9)((77)(77))/(1^2)=5.36\cdot 10^(13)N`