Problem 68PE Construct Your Own Problem Consider identical spherical conducting space ships in deep space where gravitational fields from other bodies are negligible compared to the gravitational attraction between the ships. Construct a problem in which you place identical excess charges on the space ships to exactly counter their gravitational attraction. Calculate the amount of excess charge needed. Examine whether that charge depends on the distance between the centers of the ships, the masses of the ships, or any other factors. Discuss whether this would be an easy, difficult, or even impossible thing to do in practice.
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Textbook Solutions for Physics: Principles with Applications
Question
Integrated Concepts The classic Millikan oil drop experiment was the first to obtain an accurate measurement of the charge on an electron. In it, oil drops were suspended against the gravitational force by a vertical electric field. (See Figure 18.58.) Given the oil drop to be 1.00 µm in radius and have a density of 920 kg/m3 : (a) Find the weight of the drop. (b) If the drop has a single excess electron, find the electric field strength needed to balance its weight.
Solution
Solution: In the question the classic Millikan oil drop experiment was the first to obtain an accurate measurement of the charge on an electron. Given the oil drop to be 1.00 µm in radius and have a density of 920 kg/m 3 Step 1 Refer to figure 18.58 provided in the textbook, (a) Find the weight of the drop We need to find the drop of the weight So we need to calculate from Newton’s law, W = mg Here, W is weight of the drop, m is the mass of oil drop and g is acceleration due to gravity. And the mass is rewritten as, m =V Here, is the density of oil and V is the volume of oil drop. So now we need to substitute t he ab ove tw o equation is V for m in m g for W = V g
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