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 a magnitude `2.0 xx 10^(-8) C.`

Explanation

To solve the problem, we will follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand the Setup
We have two identical pith balls, each with a charge of \( q = 2.0 \times 10^{-8} \, \text{C} \). They are suspended from a horizontal rod by strings of length \( L = 20 \, \text{cm} = 0.2 \, \text{m} \). The separation between the suspension points is \( d = 5 \, \text{cm} = 0.05 \, \text{m} \), and the equilibrium separation between the balls is \( s = 3 \, \text{cm} = 0.03 \, \text{m} \).

### Step 2: Calculate the Electrostatic Force
The electrostatic force \( F \) between the two charged balls can be calculated using Coulomb's law:
\[
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