All Problems

Conductors and Dielectrics in an Electric Field

Problem 3.73

A non-polar molecule is located at the axis of a thin uniformly charged ring of radius RR. At what distance xx from the ring's centre is the magnitude of the force FF acting on the given molecule (a) equal to zero; (b) maximum? Draw the approximate plot Fx(x)F_{x}(x)

Reveal Answer
 (a) x=R/2; (b) x={1.1R (attraction) 0.29R (repulsion). See Fig. \text { (a) } x=R / \sqrt{2} ; \text { (b) } x=\left\{\begin{array}{l} 1.1 R \text { (attraction) } \\ 0.29 R \text { (repulsion). See Fig. } \end{array}\right.