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College Physics (Urone)
Found in: Page 694
College Physics (Urone)

College Physics (Urone)

Book edition 1st Edition
Author(s) Paul Peter Urone
Pages 1272 pages
ISBN 9781938168000

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Short Answer

Voltages are always measured between two points. Why?

"Potential difference" is another word for voltage. Because it is a relative quantity, it cannot be measured at a single spot. We use another point at infinity to calculate the potential difference at a single location. Thus, voltage is usually measured between two spots.

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Step by Step Solution

TABLE OF CONTENTS :
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Step 1: Definition of Voltage

The amount of work done in carrying a unit positive charge from one point to another, I s called the potential difference or voltage between those two points.

Step 2 : Explaining why the voltages are always measured between two points

The electric potential helps us compare the potential energy between two points. As potential energy at a point has no absolute value, we can only calculate the change in Potential energy between two points. In the same way, the electric potential also does not have an absolute value at a particular point. We can only calculate the difference in potential between two points.

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(a) What is the average power output of a heart defibrillator that dissipates 400J of energy in 10.0 ms?

(b) Considering the high-power output, why doesn’t the defibrillator produce serious burns?

Question: Unreasonable Results

(a) On a particular day, it takes \(9.60 \times {10^3}\;J\) of electric energy to start a truck's engine. Calculate the capacitance of a capacitor that could store that amount of energy at \(12.0\;V\).

(b) What is unreasonable about this result?

(c) Which assumptions are responsible?

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(a) Sketch the electric field lines in the vicinity of the charged insulator in Figure 19.31. Note its non-uniform charge distribution.

(b) Sketch equipotential lines surrounding the insulator. Indicate the direction of increasing potential.

In one of the classic nuclear physics experiments at the beginning of the \(20{\rm{ }}th\) century, an alpha particle was accelerated toward a gold nucleus, and its path was substantially deflected by the Coulomb interaction. If the energy of the doubly charged alpha nucleus was \(5.00{\rm{ }}MeV\), how close to the gold nucleus (\(79\) protons) could it come before being deflected?
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