Two charges of 2.0 10⁻⁶ C and -1.0 10⁻⁶ C are placed at a separation of 10 cm . Determine the position where a third charge will experience zero net force.

Step-by-step solution

Let q₁ = 2.0 10⁻⁶ C and q₂ = -1.0 10⁻⁶ C . The distance between the charges is d = 10 cm . For the net force on a third charge to be zero, the net electric field at that point must be zero. Since the charges have opposite signs, the neutral point lies on the line joining the charges, outside the region between them, and closer to the charge with the smaller magnitude ( q₂ ). Let the neutral point be at a distance x from q₁ on the side of q₂ . The distance of this point from q₂ is x - 10 . Equating the magnitudes of