Two charged particles, placed at a distance d apart in vacuum, exert a force F on each other. Now, each of the charges is doubled. To keep the force unchanged, the distance between the charges should be changed to ________ .
4d
2d
d
d/2
2d
The correct option is 2d.
Let us understand the step-by-step reasoning behind this answer.
According to Coulomb's Law, the electrostatic force between two point charges and separated by a distance in vacuum is given by the formula:
where is Coulomb's constant.
Now, let the new charges be and . Let the new distance between them to keep the force unchanged be .
The new force is expressed as:
Substituting the values of the new charges:
We are given that the force remains unchanged, meaning . Therefore, we set the two equations equal to each other:
By canceling the common terms , , and from both sides, we get:
Cross-multiplying to solve for gives:
Taking the square root on both sides:
Thus, to keep the force unchanged, the distance between the charges must be doubled to 2d.