Four identical subatomic particles,each of mass m,are initially at rest and located on the four corners of a square,one at each corner.The length of each side of the square is L.There aren't any other forces on the particles besides the gravitational force.What is the magnitude of their initial accelerations?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The gravitational force between two particles is given by Newton's law of gravitation, $F = \frac{Gm_1m_2}{r^2}$, where $G$ is the gravitational constant, $m_1$ and $m_2$ are the masses of the particles, and $r$ is the distance between them. In this scenario, each particle experiences the gravitational pull from the other three particles. However, the question asks for the magnitude of their initial accelerations, which cannot be directly determined without additional information such as the value of $G$, $m$, and $L$. Moreover, the options provided seem to involve a misunderstanding of the units or the formula itself, as they do not correctly represent the acceleration due to gravity between the particles. The correct calculation involves summing the forces from each of the other three particles and then dividing by the mass of one particle to find its acceleration, taking into account the directions of the forces for a correct vector sum. The provided options do not accurately reflect this process.

Four Identical Subatomic Particles,each of Mass M,are Initially at Rest