Exam #1 practice problems Physics 227

1. You are a design engineer working for a passenger train manufacturer. You’ve been asked to investigate the
feasibility of using a uniform electric field to levitate and propel a train forward. Here are the details:
• Assume the train is a single car with mass 40,000 kg.
• The train should levitate above the track at a distance of 0.5 m.
• The train will be electrically charged to −5.0 × 10−2 𝐶.
• The train is to accelerate to the left at 3.3 𝑚⁄𝑠 2 , starting from rest.
a. Draw a force diagram for the train while it’s accelerating.
b. Draw a sketch of the train and include electric field lines representing the external electric field required to
levitate and accelerate the train in the desired way.
c. Calculate the magnitude and direction of the required electric field.

2. A very small and light aluminum ball is suspended by an insulating thread between
two aluminum plates. Both the ball and the plates are neutral at this point. Each plate
is mounted vertically on an insulating plastic base. Then, a power supply is connected
to the plate on the left which keeps it at a constant negative charge. As soon as this
happens a sequence of events follows:
a. The ball swings toward the left plate.
b. As soon as the ball touches the left plate it immediately swings across to the right
plate.
c. After brief contact with the right plate the ball swings back across to the left
plate.
d. This swinging between and contacting the plates happens several dozen times,
then starts slowing down. Eventually the swinging stops and the ball comes to
rest hanging in between the plates again.
Explain in detail why each step of this is happening. Be specific, using relevant diagrams if you think they will help
you in your explanations.

3. The water molecule is naturally polarized, meaning that even if there is no external electric field there will still be a
positive end and a negative end to the molecule. Even though the water molecule is somewhat complicated, this
“natural electric dipole” can be represented with the following model:
• A single pointlike positive charge of magnitude 𝑞 = 10𝑒 located at the point (𝑎, 0) where 𝑎 =
3.9 × 10−12 𝑚.
• A single pointlike negative charge of the same magnitude located at the point (−𝑎, 0).
a. Draw a labeled diagram of the situation, then determine the value of the electric field at the point (5𝑎, 0).
b. Construct an expression for the electric field of the water molecule along the x-axis. Write your expression in
terms of the distance 𝑥 from the center of the molecule, 𝑞, 𝑎, and any other fundamental constants you might
need.
c. Now, create a simplified equation for the electric field far from the water molecule, in other words, for 𝑥 ≫ 𝑎.
Hints: Take your result from part b. and use algebra to combine fractions. Next, in the denominator factor out
powers of 𝑥 to create as many powers of 𝑎 ⁄𝑥 as you can, then wherever 𝑎 ⁄𝑥 appears raised to a power greater
than one replace it with zero.
4. A hollow steel flagpole (20.0 m tall, 0.3 m radius) has acquired a positive charge
(7.0 × 10−6 𝐶) due to the friction with the blowing wind. This charge is evenly
distributed along on the outer curved surface of the flagpole.
a. Use Gauss’s law to estimate the magnitude and direction of the E field 10.0 m
up from the ground and 1.0 m from the surface of the flagpole. Explain the
choices you made in using Gauss’s law. Include a labeled diagram with your
explanation.
b. Sketch a graph of the magnitude of the E field 10.0 m above the ground as a
function of horizontal distance from the very center of the flagpole. Hint:
Don’t forget to think about the E field inside the flagpole.

5. Three glass spheres of charge 𝑄 = +10−9 𝐶 are placed at the corners of a square of side 𝐿 = 0.1 𝑚 (one corner is
left empty).
a. Draw a labeled diagram of the situation, then determine the value of the electric potential field (V field) at the
center of the square.
A proton is now placed at rest at the center of the square, then released so it can move freely.
b. Describe in words the resulting motion of the proton from when it starts to when it’s extremely far from the
spheres. Does it ever have constant velocity? Constant acceleration? Explain your reasoning.
c. Determine the speed of the proton as it passes through the empty corner of the square.

6. An aluminum soda can is resting on a plastic base. A piece

of aluminum foil hangs vertically from a thread (an
Aluminum foil
insulator) so that the foil is touching the right side of the
soda can. A positively charged glass sphere is slowly moved
closer to the left side of the can, eventually touching it
briefly. The sphere is then slowly moved away. + +
+ + Soda can
a. Describe what will happen (both visibly and
microscopically) to the glass sphere, the soda can, and Plastic base
the aluminum foil as a result of these actions. Give
explanations for why these things happen (or for why nothing happens). Draw charge diagrams to help with
your explanations.
b. Repeat part a., except with the soda can replaced with a plastic bottle.

7. Answer the following questions involving the electric force.

a. A proton has the indicated initial velocity in a region with electric field
shown. Add the proton’s resulting trajectory to the diagram.
b. A compact positively charged object is located at the origin of a
coordinate system and can’t move. An electron is located 1 meter to the
left of the origin and is at rest. Describe in detail the resulting motion of
the electron.
 c. Imagine a large vacuum-filled parallel plate capacitor with circular plates (radius 0.5 m, separated by 0.1 m). The
+/- plates of the capacitor are charged to +10−6 𝐶 and −10−6 𝐶 respectively. A proton is released from rest
halfway between the plates. How much time will pass before the proton reaches one of the plates?

8. A carbon dioxide (CO2) molecule consists of two oxygen atoms and one carbon atom in the arrangement shown.
Oxygen atoms are more electronegative than carbon atoms, which effectively makes the ends of the molecule
slightly negatively charged (-2.00 × 10−20 𝐶) and the center of the molecule slightly positively charged
(4.00 × 10−20 𝐶).
 A
5.00 10−11 m

O C O

1.16 10−10 m
a. Using this model of the CO2 molecule, make a conceptual argument for what direction the electric field points at
location A.
b. Calculate the value of the electric field at location A.

9. By accelerating electrons to extremely high speeds and firing

them at nuclei we can probe the structure of the nucleus.
By doing this particle physicists have determined that the
radius of the proton is approximately 𝑟0 = 1.2 × 10−15 𝑚.
This is much smaller than the radius of an atom, which for
hydrogen is approximately 𝑎0 = 5.3 × 10−11 𝑚. Using this
information, it’s possible to construct the following model of
the hydrogen atom:
• The nucleus is a single proton which is going to be
treated as a solid sphere of uniformly distributed
positive charge with the radius shown and total charge
equal to the standard proton charge.
• The electron is going to be treated as a thin hollow
spherical shell with the nucleus directly in the middle.
This shell has the radius shown and total charge equal to
the standard electron charge.
Express your answer for all parts of this problem in terms of the charge on the proton +𝑒, the radius of the nucleus
𝑟0 , the radius of the atom 𝑎0 , and any other fundamental constants you need.
a. What is the magnitude of the electric field outside of the atom as a function of distance (𝑟) from the center of
the nucleus? Explain your reasoning.
b. What is the magnitude of the electric field between the nucleus and the electron shell as a function of distance
(𝑟) from the center of the nucleus. Explain your reasoning.
c. What is the magnitude of the electric field within the nucleus as a function of distance (𝑟) from its center?
10. During a particle physics experiment, a proton and an
antiproton are produced. The antiproton is an example of
an exotic form of matter known as antimatter. What is
important about it for the purpose of this problem is that
the antiproton has the same mass as the proton, but has
electric charge −𝑒. When the two particles are produced
they are 1.35 × 10−15 𝑚 apart and are moving away from
each other in opposite directions, each at a speed of
1.00 × 107 𝑚⁄𝑠.
a. Determine the value of the electric potential field at
point A the moment the particles are produced. Point A
is halfway between the particles.
b. Determine the maximum distance apart the particles reach.
c. Determine the value of the electric potential field at point B the moment the particles are the maximum
distance apart.
d. Because the proton and antiproton have opposite electric charge they will attract each other and eventually
collide a certain time interval after they were produced. Explain why it would be difficult to estimate the time it
will take before the proton and antiproton collide with each other.