Help with acceleration due to electric field

[goWlfpack]

Homework Statement

An electron is accelerated by a constant electric field of magnitude 280 N/C.
(a) Find the acceleration of the electron

Homework Equations

E=qF
F=MA

The Attempt at a Solution

Ok so it seems that i should use the equations above to solve the problem, however, the values that I am getting for the elementary charge and mass of an electron do not give me the correct answer. help??

 

[LowlyPion]

Homework Statement

An electron is accelerated by a constant electric field of magnitude 280 N/C.
(a) Find the acceleration of the electron

Homework Equations

E=qF
F=MA

The Attempt at a Solution

Ok so it seems that i should use the equations above to solve the problem, however, the values that I am getting for the elementary charge and mass of an electron do not give me the correct answer. help??

What numbers are you using for what?

 

[goWlfpack]

I'm using -1.602*10^-19 C
for the charge

and 9.1095*10^28g
for the mass

 

[LowlyPion]

I'm using -1.602*10^-19 C
for the charge

and 9.1095*10^28g
for the mass

Are you using your units correctly? You gave me grams for the electron mass which is right but you need to properly account for it with the Force from Coulombs of charge.

 

[goWlfpack]

Are you using your units correctly? You gave me grams for the electron mass which is right but you need to properly account for it with the Force from Coulombs of charge.

im not quite sure how that would effect it? what units should i be using?

 

[LowlyPion]

im not quite sure how that would effect it? what units should i be using?

You can use whatever units you wish, except that Newtons for instance are kg*m/s² and are measured against kilograms of Mass, and not grams. Just so you are properly accounting for that is my point.

 

[goWlfpack]

thanks. ha i feel really stupid. that was an easy fix. talking about overlooking something. thanks again! :)

 

[LowlyPion]

thanks. ha i feel really stupid. that was an easy fix. talking about overlooking something. thanks again! :)

Don't feel bad. Units are a very common oversight.

Pretty smart guys can make the simplest mistakes and oversights.:

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/