Two identical pith balls are charged by rubbing against each other. They are suspended from a horizontal rod through two strings of length 20 cm each, the separation between the suspension points being 5 cm. in equilibrium, the separation between the balls in 3 cm. Find the mass of each ball and the tension in the strings. the charge on each ball of a magnitude `2.0 xx 10^(-8) C.`

Explanation

To solve the problem step by step, we will follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand the setup
Two identical pith balls are charged and suspended from a horizontal rod. The length of the strings is 20 cm, the distance between the suspension points is 5 cm, and the distance between the balls in equilibrium is 3 cm. The charge on each ball is \( Q = 2.0 \times 10^{-8} \, C \).

### Step 2: Calculate the electrostatic force between the balls
Using Coulomb's law, the electrostatic force \( F \) between the two charged balls is given by:

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