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Learning Goal:
To understand the nature of electric fields and how to draw field lines.
Electric field lines are a tool used to visualize electric fields. A field line is drawn beginning at a positive charge and ending at a
negative charge. Field lines may also appear from the edge of a picture or disappear at the edge of the picture. Such lines are
said to begin or end at infinity. The field lines are directed so that the electric field at any point is tangent to the field line at that
point.
Part A
Which of the following panels (labelled A, B, C, and D) in correctly
depicts the field lines from an infinite uniformly negatively charged
sheet? Note that the sheet is being viewed edge-on in all
pictures.
ANSWER:
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
Correct
Part B
In , what is wrong with panel B? (Pick only those statements that
apply to panel B.)
Check all that apply.
ANSWER:
The field lines should spread apart as they leave the sheet to indicate the weakening of the field with distance.
Correct
Part C
Which of the following panels (labelled A, B, C, and D) in shows the correct electric field lines for an electric dipole?
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
ANSWER:
Correct
Part D
In , what is wrong with panel D? (Pick only those statements that
apply to panel D.)
Check all that apply.
ANSWER:
The field lines should turn sharply as you move from one charge to the other.
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
Correct
Part E
In , the electric field lines are shown for a system of two point
charges, QA and QB . Which of the following could represent the
magnitudes and signs of QA and QB ?
ANSWER:
Q
A
= +q , QB = −q
Q
A
= +7q Q , B
= −3q
Q
A
= +3q Q , B
= −7q
Q
A
= −3q Q , B
= +7q
Q
A
= −7q Q , B
= +3q
Correct
Very far from the two charges, the system looks like a single charge with value QA + QB = +4q . At large
enough distances, the field lines will be indistinguishable from the field lines due to a single point charge +4q.
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
Learning Goal:
To understand how the charges within a conductor respond to an externally applied electric field.
To illustrate the behavior of charge inside conductors, consider a long conducting rod that is suspended by insulating strings (see
the figure). Assume that the rod is initially electrically neutral, and that it remains so for this discussion. The rod is positioned
along the x axis, and an external electric field that points in the positive x direction (to the right) can be applied to the rod and the
surrounding region. The atoms in the rod are composed of positive nuclei (indicated by plus signs) and negative electrons
(indicated by minus signs). Before application of the electric field, these atoms were distributed evenly throughout the rod.
Part A
What is the force felt by the electrons and the nuclei in the rod when the external field described in the problem introduction
is applied? (Ignore internal fields in the rod for the moment.)
⃗ ⃗
F = qE .
ANSWER:
The nuclei experience a force to the right and the electrons experience a force to the left.
The electrons experience a force to the left but the nuclei experience no force.
The electrons experience no force but the nuclei experience a force to the right.
Correct
Part B
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
What is the motion of the negative electrons and positive atomic nuclei caused by the external field?
Newton's 2nd Law tells you that an object at rest will move in the direction of the force applied on it.
Given this information, how would the distance moved by a nucleus compare with that moved by an electron?
ANSWER:
The nuclei move to the right and the electrons move to the left through equal distances.
The electrons move to the left and the nuclei are almost stationary.
The electrons are almost stationary and the nuclei move to the right.
Correct
The nuclei of the atoms of a conducting solid remain almost in their places in the crystal lattice, while the electrons
relatively move a lot. In an insulator, the electrons are constrained to stay with their atoms (or molecules), and at
most, the charge distribution is displaced slightly.
The motion of the electrons due to the external electric field constitutes an electric current. Since the negatively
charged electrons are moving to the left, the current, which is defined as the "flow" of positive charge, moves to
the right.
Part C
Imagine that the rightward current flows in the rod for a short time. As a result, what will the net charge on the right and left
ends of the rod become?
Remember that the rod as a whole must remain electrically neutral even if the charges are redistributed. This is
because applying an electric field does not change the charge on the rod, only redistributes it.
ANSWER:
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
Correct
Given that the positively charged nuclei do not move, why does the right end of the rod become positively
charged? The reason is that some electrons have moved to the left end, leaving an excess of stationary nuclei at
the right end.
Part D
The charge imbalance that results from this movement of charge will generate an additional electric field in the region within
the rod. In what direction will this field point?
ANSWER:
It will point to the right and enhance the initial applied field.
It will point to the left and oppose the initial applied field.
Correct
An electric field that exists in an isolated conductor will cause a current flow. This flow sets up an electric field that
opposes the original electric field, halting the motion of the charges on a nanosecond time scale for meter-sized
conductors. For this reason, an isolated conductor will have no static electric field inside it, and will have a reduced
electric field near it. This conclusion does not apply to a conductor whose ends are connected to an external
circuit. In a circuit, a rod (or wire) can conduct current indefinitely.
Hint for part b: draw a picture with the three given charges (leave out the field lines that are shown in the provided figure) and
look at the electric field of each of the three given charges at three different locations: just to the right of the top charge, just to
the right of the middle charge, and just to the right of the bottom charge. At each location there are three different electric fields
(there are three sources charges). Having a diagram showing the individual electric fields should help you vizualize the result of
adding them together.
Problem 17.48
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
The figure shows some of the electric field lines due to three point charges arranged along the vertical
axis. All three charges have the same magnitude.
Part A
What are the signs of the three charges? Explain your reasoning.
Match the words in the left column to the appropriate blanks in the sentences on the right.
ANSWER:
Reset Help
negative Because field lines pass from positive charges and toward negative
positive charges, we can deduce that the top charge is positive , the middle
Correct
Part B
At what point(s) is the magnitude of the electric field the smallest? Explain your reasoning.
Match the words in the left column to the appropriate blanks in the sentences on the right.
ANSWER:
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4/14/2019 Homework #03 (phy 112)
Reset Help
horizontal The electric field is the smallest on the horizontal line through the
vertical middle charge, at two positions on either side where the field lines are
top
most
bottom
least
middle
Correct
Part C
Explain how the fields produced by each individual point charge combine to give a small net field at this point or points.
Match the words in the left column to the appropriate blanks in the sentences on the right.
ANSWER:
Reset Help
x
The y components of the field are cancelled between the positive charges
y
and the negative charge cancels the x component of the field from the two
positive charges.
Correct
Score Summary:
Your score on this assignment is 100%.
You received 14 out of a possible total of 14 points.
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