Open the “John Travoltage” applet here: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/
ID: 1879703 • Letter: O
Question
Open the “John Travoltage” applet here: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/john-travoltage Click on the rightmost leg in the figure and move it back and forth a few times. drag the rightmost hand in the figure down towards the doorknob.
1. Is the doorknob at higher or lower electric potential than John’s body? Explain.
2. Is there a relationship between the amount of charge on John’s body and the distance between his hand and the doorknob in order to get the charges to move? Explain what you find using the applet. Explain using our physics tools and terminology.
3. Why doesn’t the applet show positive charges?
4. With John’s hand close to the doorknob, rub his foot against the carpet repeatedly until you get a steady stream of electrons flowing from the carpet to the doorknob. You offer to bring John a constant supply of food, in exchange for him using this process to power your calculator. He doesn’t think this will work for long. Why not? (Hint: where are the electrons going after the doorknob? What’s happening to the carpet?)
Explanation / Answer
1. Door knob is at a higher potential than John's body because negetive charges flows from lower to higher potential always.
2. Yes the phenomenon is called Electrostatic Discharge, whenever there is an accumulation of charges and there is a pointed edge like surface then the electrons gets an easy pathway to move from one potential to the other potential.
3. There is nothing called positive charge. Charges which move around are all electrons and only electrons can exist independently unlike the protons. So in any kind of Electrostatic problem we only deal with electrons, which are negetive.
4. After the electrons are transfered to the doorknob, they are again going to the earth's surface in a cyclical manner so as to keep the entire process charge neutral.
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