Try rubbing a plastic pen through your hair, and you\'ll find that you can pick

Question

Try rubbing a plastic pen through your hair, and you'll find that you can pick up a tiny scrap of paper when the pen is about one centimeter above the paper. From this simple experiment you can estimate how much an atom in the paper is polarized by the pen! You will need to make several assumptions and approximations.
(a) Suppose that the center of the outer electron cloud (q = -4e) of a carbon atom shifts a distance s when the atom is polarized by the pen. Calculate s algebraically in terms of the charge Q on the pen. (Use the following as necessary: m, g for acceleration due to gravity, h for the distance from the carbon to the pen, e for the charge of the electron, Q, e0, and p. )


I need to solve for s but have no idea about how to even start solving this problem! I have not seen anything li.ke it and my teacher has not done any example remotely close to it. Please help get me started onto how to solve this problem

Explanation / Answer

Some equations which can be used: ((1/(4*pi*epsilon not))(*Q*-4e)/h^2=mg=f f=qE p=Alpha*E p=qs I can't figure it out, though. Somebody please help if you can. ** Turns out you can treat the atom like a dipole, and the answer to A is (mg*pi*Eo*h^3)/(2eQ)

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