One very small uniformly charged plastic ball is located directly above another such charge in a test tube as shown in the figure.The balls are in equilibrium a distance d apart.If the charge on each ball is doubled,the distance between the balls in the test tube would become

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to Coulomb's Law, the electrostatic force between two charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Therefore, when the charge on each ball is doubled, the electrostatic force between them will be quadrupled (2*2=4). In order to maintain equilibrium, the distance between the balls must also be doubled to reduce the electrostatic force by a factor of 4. Therefore, the new distance between the balls would be 2d.

One Very Small Uniformly Charged Plastic Ball Is Located Directly