Coulomb's Law And Electric Field between 2 Parallel Plates

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the electric field and the speed of a proton between two parallel plates using kinematic equations. The user initially applied the equation y=y_0+v_0t+1/2at^2 to determine the proton's acceleration, resulting in an incorrect value of 1.24 m/s². Subsequently, they calculated the force using F=ma and attempted to find the electric field with E=F/q, yielding an erroneous electric field value of 1.24×10^-8 N/C. The community highlighted significant errors in the user's calculations, particularly regarding the acceleration and the resulting electric field.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Coulomb's Law and electric fields
  • Familiarity with kinematic equations
  • Knowledge of force and mass relationships (F=ma)
  • Basic principles of electrostatics and charge interactions
NEXT STEPS
  • Review the derivation of electric field strength between parallel plates
  • Study the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration in electrostatics
  • Learn about the implications of charge density (sigma) and permittivity (epsilon_0) in electric field calculations
  • Explore advanced kinematic problem-solving techniques in physics
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Students studying electromagnetism, physics educators, and anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of electric fields and particle motion in electric fields.

Yosty22
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Homework Statement



A uniform electric field exists in the region between two oppositely charged plane parallel plates. A proton is released from rest at the surface of the positively charged plate and strikes the surface of the opposite plate, 1.59cm distant from the first, in a time interval of 1.60×10−6s .

A). Find the magnitude of the electric field.
B). Find the speed of the proton when it strikes the negatively charged plate.

Homework Equations



F=ma
E=F/q
y=y_0+v_0t+1/2at^2

The Attempt at a Solution



Usually, to solve for the E field between two parallel plates, you use sigma/epsilon_0. However, I am not given sigma nor am I given anything about the dimensions of the plate, so I took the old kinematics route. First, I used the equation y=y_0+v_0t+1/2at^2. I said it starts from y_0=0 and it says it starts from rest, so I am left with y=1/2at^2. I plugged in the distance between the plates (.0159m) and the time (1.6*10^-6s) and solved for the proton's acceleration, which I found to be 1.24 m/s^2 in the negative y direction (towards the negative plate).

Next, I used F=ma - using the acceleration I just found (1.24 m/s^2) and the mass of the proton (1.6*10^-27kg) and solved for F. I got 1.984*10^-27N

Lastly, for part A, I used the equation E=F/q. Substituting the numbers in, I got that E=1.24*10^-8 N/C and it said that it was incorrect.

For part B, i used the acceleration I found above and plugged it into v=v_0+at and got V=1.984*10^-6, which was also wrong.

Any ideas what I did wrong?
 
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The value you obtained from acceleration seem to be off by many orders of magnitude.
 
nasu said:
The value you obtained from acceleration seem to be off by many orders of magnitude.

'Many' is right! :smile:
 

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