Introduction To Organic Chemistry

Step 1: Understanding the situation.
The three charges and interact through electrostatic forces. Since all charges are positive, the forces between them are repulsive. Step 2: Electrostatic force calculation.
The electrostatic force between two point charges is given by Coulomb's law: where:
- (Coulomb's constant)
- is the distance between the charges
For the force between and , the force is: Simplifying this: For the force between and , the force is similar because the charges are equal and the distance is the same: Step 3: Net force calculation.
Both forces and are directed along the -axis. The net force on is the vector sum of these two forces.
Since both forces are in the same direction (away from each other), the net force is: But as the charges are equal and the setup is symmetric, the net force on will have half the value due to the symmetry, and hence: Thus, the correct answer is (B) in the -direction.