Sodium chloride (NaCl, ordinary table salt) is made up of positive sodium ions (Na+) and negative chloride ions (c1-).
(a) If a point charge with the same charge and mass as all the Na + ions in 0.100 mol of NaC1 is 2.00 cm from a point charge with the same charge and mass as all the C 1- ions, what is the magnitude of the attractive force between these two point charges?
(b) If the positive point charge in part (a) is held in place and the negative point charge is released from rest, what is its initial acceleration? (See Appendix D for atomic masses.) (c) Does it seem reasonable that the ions in NaCl could be separated in this way? Why or why not? (In fact, when sodium chloride dissolves in water, it breaks up into Na + and CI- ions. However, in this situation there are additional electric forces exerted by the water molecules on the ions.)