Air is normally an electrical “insulator” – which means that electric charge doe

Question

Air is normally an electrical “insulator” – which means that electric charge does not normally flow through it. However, in a strong enough electric field, air can become “ionized” – this happens when the electric field is strong enough to rip an electron (or more) off of atoms. Once that happens, there are charged particles that can move freely through the air, so it shifts from being an insulator to being “conductive” (electric charge can move through it). Humid air breaks down at roughly 3.0 x106 N/C. Determine
(a) what force this electric field exerts on an individual electron (this is the force that is necessary to rip it away from the atom), (b) what acceleration this will give the electron, and (c) how Long it will take (in seconds and in distance) for the electron to accelerate to the speed of light, 3x108 m/s. Note that in this last calculation you will be ignoring “relativistic effects” (nothing with mass can actually accelerate to the speed of light). When air ionizes such as in a lightning struck, electrons don’t travel unhindered between the cloud and ground – they collide with atoms along the way. But the above calculation can illustrate why the lightning strike happens so quickly. Air is normally an electrical “insulator” – which means that electric charge does not normally flow through it. However, in a strong enough electric field, air can become “ionized” – this happens when the electric field is strong enough to rip an electron (or more) off of atoms. Once that happens, there are charged particles that can move freely through the air, so it shifts from being an insulator to being “conductive” (electric charge can move through it). Humid air breaks down at roughly 3.0 x106 N/C. Determine
(a) what force this electric field exerts on an individual electron (this is the force that is necessary to rip it away from the atom), (b) what acceleration this will give the electron, and (c) how Long it will take (in seconds and in distance) for the electron to accelerate to the speed of light, 3x108 m/s. Note that in this last calculation you will be ignoring “relativistic effects” (nothing with mass can actually accelerate to the speed of light). When air ionizes such as in a lightning struck, electrons don’t travel unhindered between the cloud and ground – they collide with atoms along the way. But the above calculation can illustrate why the lightning strike happens so quickly. Air is normally an electrical “insulator” – which means that electric charge does not normally flow through it. However, in a strong enough electric field, air can become “ionized” – this happens when the electric field is strong enough to rip an electron (or more) off of atoms. Once that happens, there are charged particles that can move freely through the air, so it shifts from being an insulator to being “conductive” (electric charge can move through it). Humid air breaks down at roughly 3.0 x106 N/C. Determine
(a) what force this electric field exerts on an individual electron (this is the force that is necessary to rip it away from the atom), (b) what acceleration this will give the electron, and (c) how Long it will take (in seconds and in distance) for the electron to accelerate to the speed of light, 3x108 m/s. Note that in this last calculation you will be ignoring “relativistic effects” (nothing with mass can actually accelerate to the speed of light). When air ionizes such as in a lightning struck, electrons don’t travel unhindered between the cloud and ground – they collide with atoms along the way. But the above calculation can illustrate why the lightning strike happens so quickly.

Explanation / Answer

force = charge * electric field

force = 1.6 * 10^-19 * 3 * 10^6

a) force = 4.8 * 10^-13 N

force = mass * acceleration

4.8 * 10^-13 = 9.109 * 10^-31 * acceleration

b) acceleration = 5.2695137 * 10^17 m/s^2

by first equation of motion

v = u + at

3 * 10^8 = 0 + 5.2695137 * 10^17 * time

c) time = 5.693125 * 10^-10 sec

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