Question

Polarizability of a carbon atom
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

Answer 1

for acceleration due to gravity, h for the distance from the carbon to the pen, e for the charge of the electron, Q, ε0, and π. )

Answer 2

I am really stuck. I have been trying to figure this out for over an hour

Answer 3

Dielle, is this a gravitation problem, like, in the section or your book, or are you studying atomic structure? just to help me look up the eq faster.

Answer 4

this is in the polarizibility section of the book looking at the effects of a electric field on an atom.

Answer 5

you are supposed to treat the carbon atom like a dipole. these are teh hints given for a similar problem in the back of the book. (a)

(a1) What must the force on a single carbon atom in the paper be at the moment the paper is lifted by the pen? (a2) You know how to calculate the force on a point charge due to a dipole. How does this relate to the force on the dipole by the point charge? In this problem, is there something you can model as a dipole and something else you can model as a point charge?
(b)

Note that the dipole moment (p = qs) of a polarized atom or molecule is directly proportional to the applied electric field. In this case the charged pen is generating the applied electric field.

Answer 6

I need to go now, but if people would like to try to solve this question I would appreciate it!