- #1
Feodalherren
- 605
- 6
Homework Statement
Suppose that the electric field in the Earth's atmosphere is E = 92 N/C, pointing downward. Determine the electric charge in the Earth.
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
I suppose that I'm supposed to construct a Gaussian around the Earth and find the flux in.
After a whole bunch of steps I ended up with and equation that looks like this
[itex]E=\frac{k_{e} Q_{in}}{a^{3}}r[/itex]
valid for r<a.
Since E is negative, the charge of the Earth must be negative.
Now I simply said that a=6430km and r=6400km and tried solving for Q. Apparently that's wrong.