An alpha particle is placed in a 5.64 *10^4 N/C electric field. Determine the charge on the alpha particle.

Question

theeric · Answer

Hi! is there any more information? I don't know about alpha particles. I just know about charged particles' reactions to electric fields.

If there is something special about the alpha particle, you'll need to use that.

If not, then you'll need to know the force that the alpha particle experiences due to the electric field.

anonymous · Answer

the answer is 3.20*10^(-19)C i can tell u that

anonymous · Answer

do u know why that is ??

theeric · Answer

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_charge_of_an_alpha_particle?#slide=2 I don't always trust wiki answers... But there it gives that as the charge. So it seems that the answer is given as a physical property.

theeric · Answer

The electric field doesn't matter, for this part.

anonymous · Answer

still dont understand :/

theeric · Answer

Okay! I just did some more research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_charge It's seems that an alpha particle is what you get when you have two protons and two neutrons. So, in there, your charge comes from the two protons. That's because neutrons have no net charge. The charge of the two protons is always the same. Do you know what the elementary charge is?

anonymous · Answer

1.60*10^-19C

theeric · Answer

Right! That is the charge of one proton. So the charge of two is double the elementary charge! :)