Question

The positive mutual potential energy of a system containing two charges corresponds to

Answer 1

Potential energy:

The potential energy of charges is the energy that is due to the Coulomb force and varies with the distance between them. The potential energy of a system of 2 charges is $U=k\frac{q1q2}{r}$

$q_1,q_2$ are the charges.

$r$ is the distance between the charges .

$k$ is a constant whose value is $9\times {10}^{9}N{m}^2/C^2$.

1. The potential energy will come out to be positive when both the charges are of equal signs i.e positive -positive or negative- negative.
2. We know that opposite sign charges attract and the same charges repel.

Therefore if the potential energy of a system of 2 charges is positive, it means that the charges are of the same nature and repel each other.