Question
A positively charged object in a certain electric field is currently being pushed west by the resulting force. How will the force change if the charge grows? What if it becomes negative?
Final Answer
- As the magnitude of the charge grows, so does the magnitude of the force since
- The force will be directed East.
Solution video
OpenStax College Physics for AP® Courses, Chapter 19, Problem 2 (Test Prep for AP® Courses)
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Video Transcript
This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. A positively charged object is being pushed towards the West by an electric field and so the electric field must be pointing to the West also because the field direction is the direction that the force would be on a positive charge. Now in part (a) of this question we are asked what happens if the charge grows? So if the magnitude of the charge grows, so does the magnitude of the force because the force is the charge multiplied by the electric field. In part (b), we are asked what if the charge becomes negative? In that case, the force would be directed in the opposite direction as the field is pointing. So the field points in the direction of force that would be applied on a positive charge but given that this is negative, we take the opposite of that and the force would now be to the East.