(b) The system is in equilibrium means the force experienced by each charge is 0. It is clear that charge placed at centre would be in equilibrium for any value of$\ q$, so we are considering the equilibrium of charge placed at any corner.
$F_{CD} + F_{CA}\cos{45{^\circ} + F_{co}\cos{45{^\circ} = 0}}$
[image:1_image392.emf]
$\frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}.\frac{\left( \mathcal{- Q} \right)\left( \mathcal{- Q} \right)}{a^{2}} + \frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{\left( \mathcal{- Q} \right)\left( \mathcal{- Q} \right)}{\left( \sqrt{2a} \right)^{2}}$
$\times \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} + \frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{\left( \mathcal{- Q} \right)q}{\ \left( \sqrt{2a/2)} \right)^{2}} \times \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} = 0$
$\frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{\mathcal{Q}^{2}}{a^{2}} + \frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{\mathcal{Q}^{2}}{{2a}^{2}}.\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} - \frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{2\mathcal{Q}q}{a^{2}} \times \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} = 0$
$\mathcal{\Longrightarrow \ \ Q +}\frac{\mathcal{Q}}{2\sqrt{2}} - \sqrt{2q} = 0$
$\Longrightarrow \ 2\sqrt{2}\mathcal{Q + Q -}4q = 0$
$\ \Longrightarrow 4q = (2\sqrt{2} + 1)\mathcal{Q}$
$\Longrightarrow q = \left( 2\sqrt{2} + 1 \right)\frac{\mathcal{Q}}{4}\ $