UEB- Troy program

Geo1050, 2021
Nguyen Quoc Hung
Homework 4: Electromagnetism

1. How much current flows through a lamp with a resistance of 40 Ω when the
voltage across the lamp is 12 V?
This calculated from Ohm's law:
Voltage/Resistance=current,
so 12V/40=0.3A.
2. Two pellets, each with a charge of 1 microcoulomb (10 -6 C), are located 3 cm
(0.03 m) apart. What is the electric force between them?

Force can be computed as:

−6 −6
q 1. q 2 9 10 . 10
F=k =9. 10 =10 N
r2 0.032
3. Find the current through a 800 W hair dryer connected to 120 V. What is the
resistance of the hair dryer?
P 800
P= I x V => I = = =6,67
V 120
The power dissipated in the resister = I 2 . R
800
So R= =17.982Ω
6,67 2

4. A dehumidifier with a resistance of 20 Ω draws 4.0 A when connected to an

electrical outlet. What is the power consumed by the iron?
The power consumed by the iron
P=I 2 . R=4 2 .20=320 W

5. Why is charge usually transferred by electrons rather than by protons?

Electrons are loosely bound on the outside of atoms, whereas protons are very tightly
bound within the atomic nuclei.

6. Suppose that the strength of the electric field about an isolated point charge has
a certain value at a distance of 1 m. How does the electric field strength compare
at a distance of 2 m from the point charge?
The electric field of a point charge is given below as 
E =kq/r²
 It can be seen that only E and r are the only variable here and also, E is inversely
proportional to r²
Which implies that 
E = k/r² , k = E × r²
E1 ×(r1)² = E2 × (r2)²
Let E1 = E, r1 =1, r2 = 2 and E2 =?
Let us substitute the parameters 
E × 1 = E2 × 2²
E × 1 = E2 × 4
E = E2 × 4
E2 = E/4
Which implies that the electric field at the second distance (r =4) is one fourth of
the initial electric field.

7. When you double the distance between a pair of charged particles, what
happens to the force between them? Does it depend on the sign of the charges?
The original distance was r, the above proportionality expression would yield
q 1. q 2
F=k
r2
After increasing the separation to 2r, plugging 2r in for r in the above
proportionality expression would yield

q 1. q 2
F=k
¿¿
Compared to the expression for the r case and the 2r case, we see that the result
of the distance increase was a decrease by a factor of 1/4.
The force is reduced to ¼ of its original value and no matter the sign of the
original charges.
8. Why is a good conductor of electricity also a good conductor of heat?
Both types of conduction are via free-moving electrons. Five thousand billion
freely moving electrons in a penny repel one another. The electrons are attracted
to the same number of protons in the penny.
9. Only a small percentage of the electric energy supplied to a common light bulb is
transformed into light. What happens to the remaining energy?
Most of the energy, more than 90%, of the electrical energy in an incandescent
lamp goes directly to heat. Thermal energy is the graveyard of electrical energy.

10.Consider a circuit with a main wire that branches into two other wires. If the
 current is 8 A in the main wire and 4 A in one of the branches, how much current
is in the other branch?
Current passing through the second wire can be given as;
I(total) = I1 + I2
I1 = 4A
I(total) = 8A
I2 = I(total) - I1 = 8A - 4A = 4A
Therefore, the amount of current leaving through the other branch is 4A.
11.A model electric train requires 6 V to operate. When it is connected to a 120-V
household circuit, a transformer is needed. If the primary coil of the transformer
has 400 turns, how many turns does the secondary coil have?
N1 V 1 400 6
= ≤¿ =
N2 V2 N 2 120
N 2=8000 turns
12.What is the net magnetic force on a compass needle? By what mechanism does
a compass needle align with a magnetic field?
A compass points north because all magnets have two poles , a north pole and
a south pole, and the north pole of one magnet is attracted to the south pole of
another magnet.
The Earth is a magnet that can interact with other magnets in this way, so the
north end of a compass magnet is drawn to align with the Earth's magnetic field.
Because the Earth's magnetic North Pole attracts the "north" ends of other
magnets, it is technically the "South Pole" of our planet's magnetic field
13.Magnet A has twice the magnetic field strength of magnet B, and at a certain
distance it pulls on magnet B with a force of 50 N. With how much force does
magnet B then pull on magnet A?
Magnets A and B are pulling equally on each other (newtons third law). if A pulls
on B with 50 Newtons, then B also pulls on A with 50 newtons.

14.How do force field lines for gravitation about a planet differ from force field lines
for magnetism about electric currents?
- The basic difference between gravity and magnetic force is that gravity acts
on all objects with mass whereas magnetic force acts on objects with iron or
electric charge.
- Furthermore, gravity is usually a weak force while magnetic force is a much
stronger force.
- Gravity acts only to attract objects together, not to push them apart. The
reason is simple: gravity is proportional to the mass of the objects bearing it,
and you can only have one type of mass – it is always positive. In contrast,
 the electromagnetic force has two types of charges (positive and negative),
and the weak and strong forces have identical properties of charge called
supercharge and color, which can take multiple values.
15.Two charged particles are projected into a magnetic field that is perpendicular to
their velocities. If the charges are deflected in opposite directions, what does this
tell you about the particles?

The charge must be opposite in sign, since the positive charges will deflect to the
negative plate, and the negative charge to the positive plate

16.A common pickup for an electric guitar consists of a coil of wire around a small
permanent magnet. Why will this type of pickup fail with nylon strings?
The magnets magnetize the style strings; these vibrating strings induce voltage in
the coils producing sounds. If the strings were nylon no magnetization would
acquire between the pickups and strings, there would be nothing to amplify

17.Do a pair of parallel current-carrying wires exert forces on each other?

Yes, the magnetic field generated by the current in one wire is perpendicular to
the current in the other wire and vise versa. When the current goes the same way
in the two wires, the force is attractive. When the currents go opposite ways, the
force is repulsive.

18.Why doesn’t a transformer work with direct current? Why is ac required?

If the current doesn't change, the magnetic field doesn't change. No current will
be induced in the secondary coil. So a transformer will not work with direct
currents