Electric Potential Energy Example problems from the textbook
Exercise 12, p. 592 It takes +6.0 J of work to move two charges from a large distance apart to 1.0cm from one another. If the charges have the same magnitude, How large is each charge? ANSWER: 2.6 µC (b) What can you tell about their signs? ANSWER: same sign
Exercise 10, p. 592 How much work is required to completely separate two charges (each -1.4 µC) and leave them at rest if they were initially 8.0mm apart? Is the work required positive or negative? Electric field does the work. ANSWER: -2.2 J
Exercise 15, p. 592 Compute the energy necessary to bring together (from a very large distance) the charges in the configuration show in the figure: ANSWER: –0.72 J
Exercise 14, p. 592 An electron is moved from point A to point B and then to point C along two legs of an equilateral triangle with sides of length 0.25m. If the horizontal electric field is 15 N/C, what is the magnitude of the work required? ANSWER: –6.0 x 10-19J