Electrostatics charged particle Problems

In summary, for the first conversation, the potential difference required to accelerate a particle from rest to a velocity of 7.25 x 10^4 m/s is 8.00 x 10^5 V. For the second conversation, using energy conservation and solving for charge times mass, the potential difference that would be required to reach the second speed is 2.4 x 10^5 m/s.
  • #1
blue_soda025
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1. A charged particle was accelerated from rest by a potential difference of 2.50 x 10^5 V. If the particle reached a maximum speed of 2.90 x 10^4 m/s, what potential difference would be required to accelerate this particle from rest to a velocity of 7.25 x 10^4 m/s?

2. The centers of two alpha particles are held 2.5 x 10^-12 m apart, then they are released. Calculate the speed of each alpha particle when they are 0.75 m apart.

For the second one, my teacher kind of went over it and came up with:
[tex]v = \sqrt{\frac{\frac{kq_{1}q_{2}}{r_{1}} - \frac{kq_{1}q_{2}}{r_{2}}}{m}}[/tex] (didn't want to show all the steps)
However, when I plug in the numbers, it doesn't match the answer which should be 2.4 x 10^5 m/s.
 
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  • #2
1. Use energy conservation. Charge multiplied by potential difference gives an energy, this energy equals the kinetic energy. Use this equation and solve for charge times mass.
Now knowing the charge times mass for the particle find the potential difference that would be required to reach the second speed.

2. How much are you off by? Are you off by a factor of [itex]\sqrt{2}[/itex]? Other then that it is hard to tell if anything else when wrong since you did not post the numbers you used.
 
  • #3
Oops, I rechecked my numbers and I think some of the ones I entered were wrong. I redid it and I got the answer. Thanks for your help.
 

1. What is electrostatics?

Electrostatics is the branch of physics that deals with the study of electric charges at rest. It explains the behavior of electrically charged particles and the forces between them.

2. What is a charged particle?

A charged particle is an object that possesses an electric charge. It can either be positively charged, negatively charged, or neutral. These charges can interact with each other through the electromagnetic force.

3. How do you calculate the force between two charged particles?

The force between two charged particles can be calculated using Coulomb's Law, which states that the force is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The formula is F = k(q1q2)/r2, where k is the Coulomb's constant, q1 and q2 are the charges of the two particles, and r is the distance between them.

4. What is an electric field?

An electric field is a region in space where an electrically charged particle experiences a force. It is represented by electric field lines, which show the direction and strength of the force at different points in the field.

5. What is the difference between conductors and insulators?

Conductors are materials that allow electric charges to move freely through them. This is because they have a large number of free electrons that can easily move from one atom to another. Insulators, on the other hand, do not allow the flow of electric charges because they have very few free electrons. This makes them poor conductors of electricity.

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