Answer:
The force will be 54.0 units
Explanation:
The magnitude of the electrostatic force between two charged objects is given by Coulomb's Law:
[tex]F=\frac{kq_1 q_2}{r^2}[/tex]
where
k is Coulomb's constant
q1, q2 are the magnitude of the two charges
r is the separation between the two charges
From the equation, we see that the magnitude of the force is directly proportional to the charge of object 2:
[tex]F\propto q_2[/tex]
In this problem, the initial force between the two objects is
F = 18.0 N
And so, when the charge on object 2 is tripled,
[tex]q_2'=3q_2[/tex]
The new electrostatic force will be
[tex]F'\propto q_2' = (3q_2) = 3F[/tex]
So, the force will also triple: since the original force was 18.0 units, the new force will be
[tex]F'=3F=3(18.0)=54.0[/tex]
