(a) What is the electrostatic potential energy (in joules) between an electron and a proton that are separated by 53 pm? (b) What is the change in potential energy if the distance separating the electron and proton is increased to 1.0 nm? (c) Does the potential energy of the two particles increase or decrease when the distance is increased to 1.0 nm?

(a) The initial electrostatic potential energy (U_initial) between an electron and a proton separated by 53 pm is calculated as: \(U_{initial} = (8.99 \times 10^9 Nm^2C^{-2}) \times (-1.6 \times 10^{-19} C) \times (1.6 \times 10^{-19} C) / (53 \times 10^{-12} m)\). (b) When the distance increases to 1.0 nm, the final electrostatic potential energy (U_final) is: \(U_{final} = (8.99 \times 10^9 Nm^2C^{-2}) \times (-1.6 \times 10^{-19} C) \times (1.6 \times 10^{-19} C) / (1.0 \times 10^{-9} m)\). (c) To find the change in potential energy, we calculate the difference \(ΔU = U_{final} - U_{initial}\). If ΔU is positive, the potential energy increases, and if ΔU is negative, the potential energy decreases.