How Do You Calculate Specific Charge Without Given Charge and Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LouPhyGENIU
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Charge Specific
Click For Summary
To calculate the specific charge of a nucleus without given charge and mass, use the atomic notation, such as carbon-12 (C-12), where the top number (12) represents the total number of protons and neutrons, and the bottom number (6) indicates the number of protons. The charge of the nucleus can be determined by multiplying the number of protons by the charge of a proton, while the mass can be approximated based on the total number of nucleons. Specific charge is defined as the ratio of charge (in Coulombs) to mass (in kilograms). By converting the charge and mass into the appropriate units, you can compute the specific charge. Understanding these relationships is crucial for solving problems related to specific charge in AS Level Physics.
LouPhyGENIU
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Specific Charge AS Level HELP??!

Hi, RIGHT, I am in desperate need of help I am attempting to teach myself Specifiction A AQA AS Physics and need help with how to figure out the specific charge of a nucleus when the charge and mass are not stated.
It is hard to explain without diagrams but if a nuclus is given, for example C with a small 12 on top and a small 6 on the bottom how would you work out the specific charge for this because my textbook says that you can only work out specific charge if you have the charge and the mass? Hope this makes a vague amount of sense and I may be being very silly but i need someone to explain this to me at a very basic level!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
"Specific charge" is the ratio of charge to mass for the nucleus (apparently expressed in coulombs/kg). What do the '12' and the '6' represent in the symbol for carbon-12 that you are describing?
 
Um they are the number of protens and neutrons (the number on top) and the number of protons (number on bottom) This is very basic AS Level Physics just don't know how to work out the specific charge from those two numbers!
 
LouPhyGENIU said:
Um they are the number of protens and neutrons (the number on top) and the number of protons (number on bottom) This is very basic AS Level Physics just don't know how to work out the specific charge from those two numbers!
Well, using those two numbers you can work out the charge of the nucleus, what is the charge of a proton and a neutron? You can also work out the mass of the nucleus.
 
LouPhyGENIU said:
Um they are the number of protens and neutrons (the number on top) and the number of protons (number on bottom) This is very basic AS Level Physics just don't know how to work out the specific charge from those two numbers!

All right, so what is the charge of the nucleus (what does the '6' also stand for)? You will want to convert that amount of charge into units of Coulombs.

If the number of protons and neutrons is 12, what is the mass of the nucleus? You will ultimately want to convert that into units of kilograms.

The specific charge is the ratio of the charge in Coulombs to the mass in kilograms.
 

Thread 'Magnitude of buoyant force in fluids of different densities'

The book claims the answer is that all the magnitudes are the same because "the gravitational force on the penguin is the same". I'm having trouble understanding this. I thought the buoyant force was equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. Weight depends on mass which depends on density. Therefore, due to the differing densities the buoyant force will be different in each case? Is this incorrect?
View full post »

Similar threads

What Am I Doing Wrong in Calculating Potential on a Grid?
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
Point charge with very thin metal sheet along a spherical surface
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
2K
Investigating the Charge Distribution on a Bulging Sphere
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
2K
What Are the Assumptions and Calculations for Sheet of Charge Theory?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
Calculating Charge of an Electron w/ the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
2K
Understanding Fundamentals of Electronics: Solving an Electric Charge Problem
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Method of mirroring - metal plates
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Van der Graaf Generator: Charge, Potential and Redesign Questions
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
How Do You Calculate Capacitance in a DC Circuit with a Fully Charged Capacitor?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Question about charged particle in an electric field
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K