A ball having a mass of 100 g and a charge of 4.9 10⁻⁵ C is released from rest into an area containing a horizontal electric field of 2.0 10^4 N C ⁻¹ . Describe the path taken by the ball.

Step-by-step solution

The forces acting on the ball are the gravitational force acting downwards and the electric force acting horizontally. Gravitational force is F_g = mg = 0.1 9.8 = 0.98 N . Electric force is F_e = qE = 4.9 10⁻⁵ 2.0 10^4 = 0.98 N . Both forces are constant in magnitude and direction, so their resultant force is also a constant vector. Since the ball is released from rest, its initial velocity is zero. Under the action of a constant resultant force with zero initial velocity, the acceleration is constant and the parti