Question

We've seen that bees develop a positive charge as they fly through the air. When a bee lands on a flower, charge is transferred, and an opposite charge is induced in the earth below the flower. The flower and the ground together make a capacitor; a typical value is 0.60 pF. If a flower is charged to 30 V relative to the ground, a bee can reliably detect the added charge and then avoids the flower in favor of flowers that have not been recently visited Approximately how much charge must a bee transfer to the flower to create a 30 V potential difference?

Answer 1

To solve the problem it is necessary to apply the concept of Load on capacitors. The charge Q on the plates is proportional to the potential difference V across the two plates.

It can be mathematically defined as:

Q= CV

Where,

C = Capacitance

V = Voltage

Our values are given as,

$C = 0.60pF\\V = 30V$

Substituting values in the above formula, we get

$Q=CV\\Q = 0.6*30\\Q = 18pC$

Where

$1pC = 10^{-12}Coulomb$

Therefore the charge must be 18pC to create a 30V Poential difference.