Calculating Coulomb force

[ldarko210]

I had this info:

q₁ at origin

q₂ at coordinates (x₂,y₂,z₂)

q₃ at coordinates (x₃,y₃,z₃)

 

I had to calculate the force exerted on q₁.

 

So I calculated the distances of q₂ and q₃ from q₁.

Then I calculated intensities of electric fields of q₂ and q₃ at origin (using calculated distances).

Than I calculated resultant intensity (by adding separate intensities).

Finally, I multiplied charge q₁ by resultant electric field to obtain the force.

 

So, was this correct? I'm pretty sure it was, but I'm checking.

[swansont]

Yes. You could also sum the forces directly. They both obey superposition.

[ldarko210]

OK, thanks.

[mathematic]

I had this info:

q₁ at origin

q₂ at coordinates (x₂,y₂,z₂)

q₃ at coordinates (x₃,y₃,z₃)

 

I had to calculate the force exerted on q₁.

 

So I calculated the distances of q₂ and q₃ from q₁.

Then I calculated intensities of electric fields of q₂ and q₃ at origin (using calculated distances).

Than I calculated resultant intensity (by adding separate intensities).

Finally, I multiplied charge q₁ by resultant electric field to obtain the force.

 

So, was this correct? I'm pretty sure it was, but I'm checking.

Did you take into account that the forces are vectors?