[Electrical force] 2 balls hanging from ceiling

[sea333]

I am satisfied with easier route for this exercise.

 

[haruspex]

I do object to the wording of the question. Despite specifying "force", it is natural to assume the question is asking about tension. It should specify "net force".

 

[kuruman]

I do object to the wording of the question. Despite specifying "force", it is natural to assume the question is asking about tension. It should specify "net force".

Yes, the wording is vague but the intent of the author may have been lost in translation. "How big is a force that is functioning on a thread?" is looking for a tension, but in which thread? There are two of them.

 

[sea333]

I can paste the text in my native language but I don't know if it would help

 

[jbriggs444]

Yes, the wording is vague but the intent of the author may have been lost in translation. "How big is a force that is functioning on a thread?" is looking for a tension, but in which thread? There are two of them.

The net force on both is identical. It is not tension that is being asked for.

 

[kuruman]

The net force on both is identical. It is not tension that is being asked for.

I am not convinced that "How big a force that is functioning on a thread" is equivalent to "What is the net force on a thread", but OK. I will not pursue this any further.