Department of Pre-University Education, KarnatakaPUC Karnataka Science Class 12

One End of a 10 Cm Long Silk Thread is Fixed to a Large Vertical Surface of a Charged Non-conducting Plate and the Other End is Fastened to a Small Ball of Mass 10 G - Physics

One end of a 10 cm long silk thread is fixed to a large vertical surface of a charged non-conducting plate and the other end is fastened to a small ball of mass 10 g and a charge of 4.0× 10-6 C. In equilibrium, the thread makes an angle of 60° with the vertical. Find the surface charge density on the plate.

Solution

There are two forces acting on the ball. These are
(1) Weight of the ball, W = mg
(2) Coulomb force acting on the charged ball due to the electric field of the plate, F = qE
Due to these forces,a tension develops in the thread.
Let the surface charge density on the plate be σ.
Electric field of a plate,

"E" = sigma /(2∈_0)

It is given that in equilibrium, the thread makes an angle of 60° with the vertical.
Resolving the tension in the string along horizontal and vertical directions, we get:

T cos 60° = mg

T sin 60°  = qE

=> tan 60° = "qE"/"mg"

=> "E" = ("mg" tan 60 °)/q

Also, electric field due to a plate,

"E" = sigma/ 2 ∈_0 =( "mg" tan 60°)/q

sigma =(2 ∈_0 "mg" tan 60 °)/"q"

sigma =( 2 xx (8.55 xx 10^-12 ) xx ( 10 xx 10 ^-3 xx 9.8) xx 1.7320)/(4.0 xx 10^-6)

σ = 7.5× 10-7 C/m2

Is there an error in this question or solution?

APPEARS IN

HC Verma Class 11, Class 12 Concepts of Physics Vol. 2
Chapter 8 Gauss’s Law
Q 19 | Page 142