Two small identical conducting spheres are placed with their centers 0.41 m apart. one is given a charge of 12 ✕ 10−9 c, the other a charge of −23 ✕ 10−9 c. (a) find the electrostatic force exerted on one sphere by the other. magnitude 1.48e-5 correct: your answer is correct. n direction attractive correct: your answer is correct. (b) the spheres are connected by a conducting wire. find the electrostatic force between the two after equilibrium is reached, where both spheres have the same charge.

(a)

The electrostatic force exerted between the two sphere is given by:

where

k is the Coulomb's constant

q1, q2 are the charges on the two spheres

r is the separation between the centres of the two spheres

In this problem,

Substituting these values into the equation, we find the force

And the negative sign means the force is attractive, since the two spheres have charges of opposite sign.

(b)

The total net charge over the two sphere is:

When the two spheres are connected, the charge distribute equally over the two spheres (since they are identical, they have same capacitance), so each sphere will have a charge of

So the electrostatic force between the two spheres will now be

And substituting numbers, we find

and the positive sign means the force is repulsive, since the two spheres have same sign charges.