when a shower is turned on in a closed bathroom, the splashing of the water on t
ID: 1413849 • Letter: W
Question
when a shower is turned on in a closed bathroom, the splashing of the water on the bare tub can fill the room's air with negatively charged ions and produce an electric field in the air as great as 1000 N/C. Consider a bathroom with dimensions 2.8 m x 3.3 m x 2.7 m. Along the ceiling, floor, and four walls, approximate the electric field in the air as being directed perpendicular to the surface and as having a uniform magnitude of 976 N/C. Also, treat those surfaces as forming a closed Gaussian surface around the room's air. What are (a) the volume charge density and (b) the number of excess elementary charges e per cubic meter in the room's air?
Explanation / Answer
A. flux through each surface will be
phi = E.A
total flux will be negative because the field poits inside.
total flux will be
phi = -2*976*2.8*3.3 - 2*976*2.8*2.7 - 2*976*3.3*2.7
phi = -50185.92 N.m^2/C
Now total Qenc will be
phi = Qenc/e0
Qenc = phi*e0
Qenc = -50185.92*8.85*10^-12 = 4.44*10^-7 C
Volume charge density will be given by
rho = Q/V
rho = 4.44*10^-7/(2.8*3.3*2.7)
rho = 1.78*10^-8 C/m^3
B. number of excess charge will be
no. of electrons per m^3 = rho/charge per electron
= 1.78*10^-8/(1.6*10^-19)
no. = 1.125*10^11 electron /m^3
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