Understanding the Concepts
* Electric Field: An electric field is a region around a charged object where other charged objects would experience a force.
* Coulomb's Law: This law describes the force between two point charges. It states that the force is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
* Electric Field Strength: The strength of the electric field at a point is defined as the force per unit charge that a positive test charge would experience at that point.
Formula
The electric field strength (Ep) due to a point charge (q) at a distance (r) is given by:
Ep = k * q / r²
where:
* Ep = Electric field strength (N/C)
* k = Coulomb's constant (8.98755 × 10⁹ N⋅m²/C²)
* q = Charge of the proton (1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C)
* r = Distance from the proton (9.0 mm = 9.0 × 10⁻³ m)
Calculation
1. Convert distance to meters: r = 9.0 mm = 9.0 × 10⁻³ m
2. Plug in the values:
Ep = (8.98755 × 10⁹ N⋅m²/C²) * (1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C) / (9.0 × 10⁻³ m)²
3. Calculate: Ep ≈ 1.77 × 10⁵ N/C
Answer:
The strength of the electric field 9.0 mm from a proton is approximately 1.77 × 10⁵ N/C.
