vikas askiitian expert
Last Activity: 13 Years ago
charges are placed at three vertices of triangle ...
let A,B,C are the vertices of the triangle then potential energy of system is given by
potential energy of all the possible paires of charges ...
total potential energy = [ (PE bw charge at A & B) + (PE bw charge at A & C) + (PE bw charge at B & C)] ..............1
since charges are same & also distance bw any two charges is same so PE bw any two charge = kq2/d
from eq 1
total PE = [ kq2/d + kq2/d + kq2/d ]
= 3 [ kq2/d ]
k = columbs constant = 9*109
general formula for finding total paires possible is n(n-1)/2
here in the above quest n = 3 so total paires are 3(3-1)/2 = 3