Science 30 Unit C: Electric Fields Practice Questions

1) Draw electric field lines between the following pairs of charges. Make sure the arrows
are pointing in the correct direction!

a)

Would these two charges attract or repel each other? _________________

b)

Would these two charges attract or repel each other? _________________

c)

Would these two charges attract or repel each other? _________________

2) The arrows of electric field lines represent the direction that a ____________ charged test
body would move when placed inside the electric field.

3) A material in which electrons can move around freely, allowing it to easily become
charged, is called a(n) ______________

A material that cannot in which electrons cannot move around freely, preventing it from
building up a charge, is called a(n) ______________

Use the following information to answer the next two questions:

 A round balloon is inflated to give it a radius of 0.3 m. The balloon is then
rubbed on a student’s hair, giving the balloon a charge of Q = 3.30 x 10-4 C.

4) Calculate the magnitude of the electrical field strength |E| on the surface of the balloon.

5) The charged balloon is held so that the surface of the balloon is 0.2 m away from the
student’s hair. Calculate the magnitude of the electrical field strength |E| at the student’s
hair.
Hint: what is the distance of the hair from the center of the balloon?

6) A Van der Graaf generator accumulates an increasing amount of charge over time.
Calculate the electric field strength at a distance of 2 m away from the center of the
generator.

Trial Charge of Van der Graaf Electric Field Strength (N/C)

Generator (C)
1 0.5

2 1.0

3 2.0

4 4.0

5 8.0

Use the following information to answer the next two questions:

 The superhero Thor wields a magical hammer that carries a large electric
charge, with the strength of a bolt of lightning. Currently, Thor’s hammer
carries 300 C of charge.

7) If Thor holds his hammer so that the center of the hammer is at a distance (r) of 1 m
away from his head, calculate the strength of the electric field |E| at Thor's head.

8) If Thor throws the hammer to a point where the center of the hammer is 5 m away from
his head, calculate the the strength of the electric field from this new distance. What is the
electric field strength at the new distance?

Example Diploma Question

9) A metal sphere has a charge of 4.07 × 10–11 C and an electric field strength of 5.85 N/C at
a distance (r) of 0.250 m from the sphere. What would be the electric field strength of the
sphere at a distance of 4r?