A magnesium ion, Mg2+, with a charge of 3.2×10−19C and an oxide ion, O2−, with a charge of −3.2×10−19C, are separated by a dista

Question

2 months ago

6

nce of 0.25 nm. How much work would be required to increase the separation of the two ions to an infinite distance?

1 answer:

eduard [2.7K] · Answer 1 · 2026-03-16T03:47:52+03:00

Details:

The equation to calculate work done is defined as follows.

W = $-k \frac{q_{1}q_{2}}{d}$

where, k = proportionality constant = $8.99 \times 10^{9} Jm/C^{2}$

$q_{1} = charge of Mg^{2+} = 3.2 \times 10^{-19} C$

$q_{2} = charge of O_{2-} = -3.2 \times 10^{-19} C$

d = separation distance = 0.45 nm = $0.45 \times 10^{-9} m$

Now we will insert the given values into the formula above to compute the work done as follows.

W = $-k \frac{q_{1}q_{2}}{d}$

= $\frac{-[8.99 \times 10^{9} Jm/C^{2} \times 3.2 \times 10^{-19} C \times -3.2 \times 10^{-19} C]}{0.25 \times 10^{-9} m}$

= $3.68 \times 10^{-18} J$

Thus, we can conclude that the work needed to increase the distance between the two ions to infinity is $3.68 \times 10^{-18} J$ .