It is possible to make lightning at home. Dry air breaks down if there is a larg
ID: 1447043 • Letter: I
Question
It is possible to make lightning at home. Dry air breaks down if there is a large enough electric field. The electric field required to break down dry air and cause lightning is 3.0 × 106 V/m. a) How much charge would you have to put on each plate of a parallel plate capacitor to have a field this large? Assume that the plates have an area of A = 75cm2 and the plates are separated by 1mm. b) Does the distance separating the two plates matter? If no, why not? If yes, how would the charge required change if you doubled the distance separating the two plates? c) How much energy is stored in this capacitor?
Explanation / Answer
a)
Net charge = Q = AE
A = area between the plates = 75 *10^-4 m^2
= permittivity = 8.85*10^-12 F/m
E = Electric field = 3*10^6 V/m
Q = 2*10^-7 C
b)
Charge on the plate will be independent of the distance betwee the plates at contant Electric field.
c) Energy = 0.5*Ad*E^2 = 3*10^-4 J
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