Calculating Voltage of Cloud After Lightning Bolt Transfer

[AaronLosAl]

Homework Statement

The Electric field between a cloud and the ground is 1.0X10^6 N/C. If 35C of charge is transferred to the ground (lightning bolt) over a distance of 2.3km, what is the voltage of the cloud.

Homework Equations

q=mg/E?

The Attempt at a Solution

I don't have the best high school physics teacher. He doesn't just do the problem, he makes us actually have to think on our own which is amazingly hard. I don't know where to start on this. Help if you have time to waste or procrastinating.

 

[cepheid]

1.
I don't have the best high school physics teacher. He doesn't just do the problem, he makes us actually have to think on our own which is amazingly hard.

It sounds like your high school physics teacher is better than most.

"GASP! Heaven forbid we should actually have to think for ourselves."

Let me ask you something. Do you really think you learn something by watching him go nuts on the blackboard and solve problems for you, and then applying canned formulae to solve the same kinds of problems yourselves without understanding the meaning behind any of it? Compare that to thinking about how to tackle a problem on your own based on your knowledge of the underlying princples.

Think...what is an electric field? What is another way of expressing its units? What is potential difference (or voltage), and how is it related to the electric field? What, ultimately is causing the electric field/voltage? Is it the buildup of electrostatic charge? If so, what happens if that buildup is reduced?

 

[Mindscrape]

q=mg/E, what? I think you made this up.

You are going to have to do some work on your own for us to start helping you. Even if you don't want to try, you have to at least attempt to start somewhere.