Chapter 2

Assignment 1

1. Two charges 5× 10-8 C and -3 × 10-8 C are located 16 cm apart. At what point on the line
joining the two charges is the electric potential zero? Take the potential at infinity to be
zero. ( x = 10cm or x= 40 cm from the charge 5× 10-8 C)

2. A regular hexagon of side 10cm has a charge of 5μC at each of its vertices. Calculate the
potential at the centre of the hexagon. (V = 2.7× 106 V)

3. A charge of 8mC is located at the origin. Calculate the work done in taking a small charge
of -2× 10-9 C from a point P (0,0,3cm) to a point Q ( 0, 4cm, 0) via a point R ( 0, 6cm, 9cm).
( W = 1.2 J. Electrostatic force is a conservative force, work done is independent of the
path taken, depends on initial and final positions.)

4. If 100 J of work has to be done in moving an electric charge of 4C from a place, where
potential is -10 V to another place, where potential is V volt, find the value of V. ( V=-15V)

5. A charge of 24μC is given to a hollow metallic sphere of radius 0.2 m. Find the potential (i)
at the surface of the sphere, and (ii) at a distance of 0.1 m from the centre of the sphere.
( (i) V = 1.08 × 106 V, (ii) V = 1.08 × 106 V, potential at a point inside and on the surface
same)

6. Twenty seven drops of same size are charged at 220 V each. They coalesce to form a
bigger drop. Calculate the potential of the bigger drop. ( V = 1980 V)

7. A short electric dipole has dipole moment of 4× 10-9 Cm. Determine the electric potential
due to the dipole at a point distant 0.3 m from the centre of the dipole situated (a) on the
axial line (b) on equatorial line (c) on a line making an angle of 60˚ with the dipole axis.
( (a) V = 400 V , r>>a, (b) V = 0, (c) V = 200 V, r>>a)

8. The sides of rectangle ABCD are 15cm and 5cm. Point charges of -5μC and +2μC are
placed at the vertices B and D respectively. Calculate electric potentials at the vertices A and
C. Also calculate the work done in carrying a charge of 3μC from A to C.

(VA= -7.8 × 105 V, Vc = 0.6 × 105 V, W = q ( Vc – VA) = 2.52 J)

9. Positive charges of 6, 12 and 24 nC are placed at the three vertices of a square. What charge must
be placed at the fourth vertex so that total potential at the centre of the square is zero? ( q = -42nC)

10. Two equal charges, 2× 10-7 C each are held fixed at a separation of 20 cm. A third charge of equal
magnitude is placed midway between the two charges. It is now moved to a point 20cm from both
the charges. How much work is done by the electric field during the process? ( W = -3.6× 10-3 J)
11. Calculate the voltage needed to balance an oil drop carrying 10 electrons when located between
the plates of a capacitor which are 5mm apart ( g = 10 m/s2). The mass of oil drop is 3× 10-16 kg.
(V= 9.47 V)

12. Two positive point charges of 0.2 μC and 0.01 μC are placed 10 cm apart. Calculate the work
done in reducing the distance to 5 cm. (W = change in potential energy, W = 1.8 × 10 -4 J)

13. Two particles have equal masses of 5 g each and opposite charges of +4× 10-5 C and – 4 × 10-5 C.
They are released from rest with a separation of 1 m between them. Find the speeds of the particles
when the separation is reduced to 50 cm. (Total initial energy = Total final energy, v = 53.67 m/s)

14. An electron (charge = -e) is placed at each of the eight corners of a cube of side ‘a’ and an alpha
particle (charge = +2e) at the centre of the cube. Calculate the potential energy of the system.
(U = 3.89 × 1010 e2/ a Joules)

15. Two point charges of +3.2 × 10-19 C and -3.2 × 10-19 C are placed at a distance of 2.4×10-10 m from
each other, forming an electric dipole. Find (i) the electric dipole moment (ii) potential energy of the
dipole in equilibrium position (iii) work done in turning the dipole through 180˚ from the equilibrium.
Given, E = 4 × 10 5 N/C. ( (i) P = 7.68 × 10 -29 Cm, (ii) U = -3.07 × 10-23 J, (iii) W = 6.14 × 10 -23 J)

16. (a) Determine the electrostatic potential energy of a system consisting of two charges 7μC and
-2μC ( with no external field) placed at ( -9cm, 0,0) and ( 9cm,0,0) respectively. (b) How much work is
required to separate the two charges infinitely away from each other? (c) Suppose the same system
of charges is now placed in an external electric field E = A (1/ r2 ), where A = 9× 109 C/m2. What
would the electrostatic energy of the configuration be? ( (a) U = -0.7 J, (b) 0.7 J (c) 49.3 J)