alleryStart learning →Doubling the distance from a spherically symmetric charged object changes the field magnitude to:
AOne half of before
BTwice what it was
CFour times what it was
DOne quarter of before
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. One quarter of before
1. An inverse square law makes distance matter sharply.
2. The field magnitude varies as the inverse square of the radial distance.
3. Inverse square means the field is proportional to one over distance squared.
4. Doubling the distance squares to a factor of four in the denominator.
5. So the field falls to one quarter of what it was.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics for AP Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 18 'Electric Charge and Electric Field', sections 18.1-18.8_
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