Question

You venture out on a cold winter morning to warm up your vehicle. You have layers of cotton/polyester blend clothes on and from walking on carpeting you have accumulated a net negative charge. Your car is considered a neutral conductor. As you place your hand near the door handle (without touching it) what happens to the charges of your car?
A. There is a localization of positive charge near the door handle.
B. Nothing, since your hand is not touching the car it cannot transfer any charge.
C. Nothing, the charges are too cold to deliver any response.
D. There is a localization of negative charge near the door handle.

Answer 1

Answer:

A. There is a localization of positive charge near the door handle.

Explanation:

• When on a cold morning a person wearing cotton/ polyester cloth walking on the carpet moves toward his car then due to friction between the feet and the carpet there are transfer of electrons from the carpet to our feet, and since our body is a good conductor of electricity the charges spread throughout on the surface of or body.

• When the person brings his hands close to the neutral conducting door of the car it gets induced with equal intensity of opposite charge to our hands thus having a concentration of positive charges near to the hand on the car's door is developed as a result of polarization within the conductor.