Decide how the sketches below would be listed, if they were listed in order of d

Question

Decide how the sketches below would be listed, if they were listed in order of decreasing potential energy. That is, select "1" beside the sketch that shows the system with the highest potential energy, select "2" beside the sketch that shows the system with the next highest potential energy, and so on. olo Note for advanced students: since the units of each charge are not written, you may assume any convenient and reasonable unit, for example coulombs or multiples of e O 1 (highest) 1 (highest) 4(lowest) O4 (lowest) O 1 (highest) 1 (highest) 2 O 3 O 4 (lowest) O4 (lowest)

Explanation / Answer

Potential energy = constant x q1 x q2 / r

where q1 , q2 are two charges , r is distance between them. So if distance speration is low and charges are high then potential energy is maximum.

in case 1 ( left , top most) we get poential enegry = ( 1) ( -4) / 3 = -4/3 ( -ve indicates attraction)

case 2 ( top righ most) PE = ( -2) ( 1) / 4 = -2/4 = -1/2

case 3 , bottom left , PE = ( -3) ( 1) / 3 = -1

case 4 ( bottom right) , PE = ( 1) ( 3) / 3 = 1

Based on above calculations , top left is ranked 1 ,  

top right ranked 4

bottom bothn are ranked same i.e 2,2

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