Question

Electro Petro. You recently acquired a vintage Aston Martin automobile and you ponder the possibility of placing static charge on gasoline when filling at the pump.

(a). Explain if and how this is possible
(b). Given a tiny drop of gasoline has a mass of 8.0 x 10^(-15)kg and a positive charge of 4.8x10^-19 C, determine the weight of the gasoline drop.
(c). If the gasoline drop is subjected to an upward electric field of magnitude 6.0x10^5 N/C, determine the magnitude of the electrostatic force exerted on the gasoline drop
(d). Determine the magnitude of the acceleration of the gasoline

Answer 1

I'm not exactly sure about (a). But isn't (b) simply mg? Or do I have to factor in the positive charge somehow? Including that piece information specifically at (b). didn't make sense to me.
(c). I know that electric force due to a field on a particle is F=kQq/r^2. But in this scenario I'm a bit confused because I'm not given a certain distance and I only have one charge.
(d). Could I solve this part simply by using F=ma once I calculate the F from part (c)?

Answer 2

b) Would be mg which is mass in kg times gravitational force.
For c and d.
We would use the formula \[F _{e}=qE=ma\]

For a you would need to research it.

Answer 3

Fe is electric force,
q is charge.
E is electric field.
m is mass in kg and
a is acceleration

Answer 4

Ahh! I see my stupid mistake. They already gave us E, so basically Q and r are already accounted for. Thus F=qE.

Much thanks! :)

Answer 5

Yep.
Nice job figuring it out.
Good luck on the rest.