Question

An electric dipole is placed in a uniform electric field. What is the net force acting on it?

Answer 1

It is zero in homogeneous electric field. As you know that an electric dipole is made of two equal and opposite charges placed at a little distance apart from each other. ... As the force on positive and negative charge will not be equal here

Answer 2

When an electric dipole placed in an uniform electric field , it experience Torque but net force on a dipole is zero...

Dipole is so formed when two charges of same magnitude but of opposite sign are kept at some finite distance...As we know that when a charge particle is kept in an electric field , it experience force ( F = qE)

In Dipole we have two charges of different signs ( +ve and -ve)..So when an dipole is being kept in an UNIFORM Electric field, Charges experience force as ( F = qE and F = -qE )....These forces are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction...so When we add them togethet we get Net Force on a dipole as 0....But this net force is responsible for the torque on a dipole....see figure...