An electric dipole in a uniform horizontal electric field is displaced slightly from its equilibrium position as shown in Figure P23.79, where θ is small. The separation of the charges is 2a, and each of the two particles has mass m.
a) Assuming the dipole is released from this position, show that its angular orientation exhibits simple harmonic motion with a frequency .
What If? (b) Suppose the masses of the two charged particles in the dipole are not the same even though each particle continues to have charge q . Let the masses of the particles be and . Show that the frequency of the oscillation in this case is
