In vacuum, a perfectly grounded conducting sphere of radius a is placed with its center at the origin O(0,0,0).
At a point A(0,0,r0) on the z-axis at distance r0 (r0>a) from the sphere, a polar nanoparticle of negligible size is fixed. This particle possesses a permanent electric dipole moment of magnitude p (referred to simply as the "dipole").
Initially, the dipole direction points toward the origin O (i.e., in the −z direction).
While the particle's center of mass position is kept at point A, an external manipulation (such as an optical tweezer) quasi-statically rotates the dipole until it is finally parallel to the positive x-axis direction.
Find the work W done by the external force on the particle during this rotation.
The spatial extent of the dipole itself is sufficiently small compared to r0−a, so it can be treated as an ideal point dipole. Let the proportionality constant in Coulomb's law be k. Gravity and all other interactions are neglected.
The work W [J] is expressed as W=X×10−18. Give the value of positive integer X.
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