Question

Four identical metallic objects carry the following charges 1.82 6.65 4.80 and 9.30 C The objects are brought simultaneously into contact so that each touches the others Then they are separated a What is the final charge on each object b How many electrons or protons make up the final charge on each object

Answer 1

Answer:

a) 5.64 C

b) 3.5*10¹⁹ protons

Explanation:

a)

• Since the four metallic objects are identical, and total charge must be conserved, this means that after brought simultaneously into contact so that each touches the others, once separated, total charge must be the same than before being brought in contact.
• But due they are identical, after charges were able to transfer freely between them, the four objects must have the same final charge, i.e. the fourth part of the total charge, as follows:

       $Q_{n} = \frac{Q_{tot}}{4} = \frac{22.57C}{4} = 5.64 C (1)$

b)

• This charge will be divided between n protons, since the charge is positive.
• Since each proton carries a charge equal to the elementary charge e, which value is 1.6*10⁻¹⁹ C, we can find the number of protons in excess, doing the following calculation:
• $n_{p} =\frac{Q_{n}}{e} = \frac{5.64C}{1.6e-19C} = 3.5 e19 C (2)$