1.

Explain what is meant by the statement that electrostatic forces obey the principles of
superposition
The principle of superposition means that the resultant force acting on a
body is the vector sum of all individual forces acting on the body.

2. A parallel-plate capacitor whose plates are 2.5cm apart is charged to a potential difference
of 100V.What would be the force on a test charge of 1.0𝜇C placed between the plates.
𝑽 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝑽
𝑽 = 𝑬𝒅 → 𝑬 = = = 𝟒. 𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝑽/𝒎
𝒅 𝟐. 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟐 𝒎
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑭 = 𝒒𝑬
∴ 𝑭 = 𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝑪 × 𝟒𝟎𝟎𝟎𝑵/𝑪
𝑭 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟒𝑵
Note: V/m =N/C
3. Spontaneous: A natural process ; not triggered or accelerated/decelerated by the
surrounding physical conditions e.g. temperature or pressure
4. A straight horizontal segment of copper wire carries a current =28A. What is the
magnetic field needed to ‘float’ the wire? Its linear mass density is 46.6g/m
𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒔 = 𝟒𝟔. 𝟔𝒈 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟔𝟔𝒌𝒈
𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉, 𝑳 = 𝟏𝒎
𝒊 = 𝟐𝟖𝑨
𝒈 = 𝟏𝟎𝑵/𝒌𝒈
𝒎𝒈 = 𝑳𝒊𝑩 → 𝑩 = 𝒎𝒈/𝑳𝒊

5. When monochromatic light is incident on a particular metal, electrons are emitted. The
intensity of light is then increased.
Explain what happens to the following:
i. The maximum kinetic energy of the emitted electrons
The maximum kinetic energy of the emitted electrons will not change; the
maximum kinetic energy is dependent on the frequency of the
monochromatic light but not the intensity.
 ii. The number of electrons emitted per second
The number of emitted electrons will increase; more electrons will be
knocked off from the surface due to increase in the radiation flux.
a) A 0.05kg mass is lifted at a constant speed by a DC motor. The motor has a coil of 100
turns in a 0.01T magnetic field. The area of the coil is 0.0012𝑚2 . The motor shaft has a
radius of 0.004m.

i) Determine the force needed to lift the mass

𝑭 − 𝒎𝒈 = 𝒎𝒂
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒂 = 𝟎
𝑭 = 𝒎𝒈 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝒌𝒈 × 𝟗. 𝟖𝑵/𝒌𝒈
𝑭 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟗𝑵

ii) Calculate the minimum current required in the coil to lift the mass.

𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒒𝒖𝒆, 𝝉 = 𝑭𝒅 = 𝑵𝑰𝑨𝑩𝒔𝒊𝒏𝜽

𝑭𝒅
𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑰 =
𝑵𝑨𝑩𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟗𝟎

𝟎. 𝟒𝟗𝑵 × 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟒𝒎
=
𝟏𝟎𝟎 × 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟏𝟐𝒎𝟐 × 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝑻 × 𝑩𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟗𝟎

= 𝟏. 𝟔𝑵𝒎
 1. The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two identical ions that are
separated by a distance 6.3x10−10 m is 3.7x10−9 N.
i. What is the charge of each each ion?

𝒌𝒒𝟐 |𝑭|𝒓𝟐
|𝑭| = 𝟐 → 𝒒 = √( )
𝒓 𝒌

𝟑. 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝑵 × (𝟔. 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝒎)𝟐

𝒒 = √( )
𝒎𝟐
𝟗. 𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵. 𝟐
𝑪

𝒒 = 𝟒. 𝟎𝟑𝟗𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗 C
ii. How many electrons are ‘missing’ from each ion (thus giving the ion its
charge imbalance)?
𝒒 𝟒. 𝟎𝟑𝟗𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗 𝑪
𝒏= = = 𝟐. 𝟓 = 𝟐 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒔( 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏)
𝒆 𝟏. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗 𝑪

(a) Consider point charges 𝑞1 =+3µC,𝑞2 =+4µC, 𝑞3 =+3µC, and 𝑞4 =−6µC placed at four
corners of square as shown in figure 3. Each diagonal is of length 2m.

q4=-6μC q3=+3μC

M L

J K
q2=+4μC
q1=+3μC

i) Calculate the electric intensity at the center of the square 8mks

 𝐅 𝐤𝐪
𝐄= =
𝐪 𝐫𝟐

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐉𝐋 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭;

Electric field Intensity at the center due to charge K;

𝒎𝟐
𝟗.𝟎×𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵. 𝟐 ×𝟒×𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝑪 𝑵
|𝑬𝑳 | = 𝑪
(𝟏𝒎)𝟐
= 𝟑. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( 𝑪 ) 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑴

Electric field Intensity at the center due to charge M;

𝒎𝟐
𝟗.𝟎×𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵. 𝟐 ×𝟔×𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝑪 𝑵
|𝑬𝑴 | = 𝑪
(𝟏𝒎)𝟐
= 𝟓. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( 𝑪 ) 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑴

Therefore the field Intensity at the center.

𝑵 𝑵
|𝑬𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 | = 𝟑. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( ) + 𝟓. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( ) 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑴
𝑪 𝑪

𝑵
|𝑬𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 | = 𝟗. 𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( ) 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑴
𝑪

ii) What will be the force on a charge of +6 µC placed at the center?

𝑵
𝑭 = 𝒒𝑬 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝑪 × 𝟗. 𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ( )
𝑪
𝑭 = 𝟓. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 𝑵