Question

A negatively charged particle is situated on a straight line joining two other stationary particles each having charge $+q$. The direction of the motion of the negatively charged particle will depend on:

• A. the magnitude of charge.
• B. the position at which it is situated.
• C. both magnitude of charge and its position.
• D. the magnitude of $+q$.

Answer 1

The correct option is B the position at which it is situated.

According to the Coulomb's law,
The force acting on any two charged particles is given by,
F $=\frac{kQq}{r^2}$
where, $r$ is the interparticle distance between the particles. Thus, the direction of motion of the negatively charged particle will depend on the force acting on it, or essentially on the position where it is placed in between the $2$ positively charged particles