Forming helium atoms

Forming helium atoms#

To form a helium atom, an alpha particle that contains two protons and two neutrons is fixed at one location, and two electrons are brought from far away, one at a time. The first electron is placed a distance \(d = {{ params.d }}\times 10^{ {{ params.p }} }\rm\ m\) from the alpha particle and held there while the second electron is brought a distance \(d = {{ params.d }}\times 10^{ {{ params.p }} }\rm\ m\) from the alpha particle on the other side from the first electron. The final configuration of the particles is shown in the figure.

Final configuration of the alpha particle and electrons.

Question Text#

What is the work done by the system to assemble the charges?

Answer Section#

Please enter a numeric value.

Attribution#

Problem is from the OpenStax University Physics Volume 2 textbook, licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 license.
Image representing the Creative Commons 4.0 BY license.