Identify the correct statement of the principle of superposition for electrostatic forces.
PHYSICS · Single correct · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences
Problem
Identify the correct statement of the principle of superposition for electrostatic forces.
(a) The presence of additional charges alters the magnitude of each pairwise electrostatic force, so forces cannot be simply summed.
(b) The net electrostatic force on a charge equals the arithmetic average of the forces due to all other charges.
(c) The net electrostatic force on a charge equals the vector sum of forces due to individual charges considered separately.
(d) The net electrostatic force on a charge equals the algebraic sum of the magnitudes of forces due to individual charges, with appropriate signs only for collinear cases.