We want to get a better, more concrete idea of the strength of the electric force. So imagine you could remove all the electrons

Question

3 years ago

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We want to get a better, more concrete idea of the strength of the electric force. So imagine you could remove all the electrons

from 1 mL (1 cubic centimeter) of water. Dump the electrons on yourself, and put the electron-free nuclei (protons and neutrons) on the moon. Estimate how much force will there be between the positive and negative charges? (Of course you have to look up the earth-moon distance.) What fraction of your weight is that force? How many electrons do you have in 1 cc? Consider that virtually all the mass is given by protons and neutrons. Since the proton and the neutron have almost equal masses, and most atoms have equal numbers of protons and neutrons, so the water mass, divided by 2, is the mass of protons. Once you know the total mass of protons, divide by the mass of a single proton and you have the total number of protons. Knowing that, how many electrons do you then suppose you have?)

Physics