What work did the particles do?

Classical Mechanics Level 2

A system of two charged particles as shown are attracting each other.

Because of mutual attraction, the particles are accelerated towards each other. No external force has been applied.

Particle B exerts a force F A B F_{AB} on A. Similarly, A exerts a force F B A F_{BA} on B. Note that F A B F_{AB} = - F B A F_{BA} , so that F A B F_{AB} + F B A F_{BA} = 0.

So the work by F A B F_{AB} + the work by F B A F_{BA} = ?

Increase in the total kinetic energy of the two particles 0 Decrease in the total kinetic energy of the two particles

A Former Brilliant Member by A Former Brilliant Member

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

The 2 forces are opposite but so are their displacements. Thus, work done by the forces is positive and is added to give the increase in the total kinetic energy of the 2 particles.

1 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...