Question

Honey bees can acquire a small net charge on the order of 1 pC as they fly through the air and interact with plants. Estimate the magnetic force on a honey bee due to Earth's magnetic field as the bee flies near the ground from east to west. Average speed of a bee is 15 miles/hour.
HINT: Model the honey bee as a moving, charged point particle. The direction the bee flies is significant.

FEEDBACK: Model the charged honey bee as a point particle.

Answer 1

Answer:

$3.35\cdot 10^{-16}N$

Explanation:

The force exerted on a charged particle due to a magnetic field is given by:

$F=qvB sin \theta$

where

q is the charge of the particle

v is the velocity of the particle

B is the magnetic field strength

$\theta$ is the angle between the directions of B and v

In this problem we have:

$q=1 pC=1\cdot 10^{-12} C$ is the charge of one honey bee

$v=15 mi/h = 6.7 m/s$ is the velocity of the bee

$B=5.0\cdot 10^{-5} T$ is the average strength of the Earth's magnetic field

$\theta=90^{\circ}$, because the bee flies east to west while the Earth's magnetic field is south to north

Substituting into the equation, we find:

$F=(1\cdot 10^{-12}C)(6.7 m/s)(5.0\cdot 10^{-5} T)(sin 90^{\circ})=3.35\cdot 10^{-16}N$