 Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/a2/solution

s

be the separation and

k_{e} = 1/ (4 π ϵ_{0})

. Each particle describes a circle of radius

s /2

\frac{k _{e} e ^{2}}{s ^{2}} = m_{e} ω^{2} \frac{s}{2}, T = 2 π \frac{m _{e} s ^{3}}{2 k _{e} e ^{2}} = 2.79 \times 1 0^{- 10} s .

Using

s

as each particle's orbital radius would miss the equal-mass two-body motion.

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