Charges suspended by strings: a new twist to an old problem
Physics Education
2009-09-29 v4 Popular Physics
Abstract
A popular problem asks for the equilibrium separation between two identical (mutually repelling) charges suspended by strings fastened to a common point. We slightly modify this problem by considering two opposite (mutually attracting) charges and adding a finite separation between the suspension points. The discussion leading to the solution introduces important physical phenomena including "catastrophic" behavior and hysterisis.
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0511032,
title = {Charges suspended by strings: a new twist to an old problem},
author = {Peretz D. Partensky and Michael B. Partensky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0511032},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
11 pages, 4 figures