Question

The starter motor of a car engine draws a current of 140 A from the battery. The copper wire to the motor is 4.20 mm in diameter and 1.2 m long. The starter motor runs for 0.760 s until the car engine starts.Required:a. How much charge passes through the starter motor? b. How far does an electron travel along the wire while the starter motor is on?(mm)

Answer 1

Answer:

(a)106.4C

b)0.5676mm

Explanation:

(a)To get the charge that have passed through the starter then The current will be multiplied by the duration

I= current

t= time taken

Q= required charge

Q= I*t = 140*0.760 = 106.C

(b) b. How far does an electron travel along the wire while the starter motor is on?(mm)

diameter of the conductor is 4.20 mm

But Radius= diameter/2= 4.20/2=

The radius of the conductor is 2.1mm, then if we convert to metre for consistency same then

radius of the conductor is 0.0021m.

We can now calculate the area of the conductor which is

A = π*r^2

= π*(0.0021)^2 = 13.85*10^-6 m^2

We can proceed to calculate the current density below

J = 140/13.85*10^-6 = 10108303A/m

According to the listed reference:

Where e= 1.6*10^-19

n= 8.46*10^28

Vd = J/(n*e) = 10108303/ ( 8.46*10^28 * 1.6*10^-19 ) =0.0007468m/s=0 .7468 mm/s

Therefore , the distance traveled is:

x = v*t = 0.7468 * 0.760 = 0.5676mm