Honeybees acquire a positive charge while flying through the air. The rapid moti
ID: 1759616 • Letter: H
Question
Honeybees acquire a positive charge while flyingthrough the air. The rapid motion of the wings
through the air provides the “friction” to strip
charges off the bee, just like running a comb
through your hair.
Assume that a bee has acquired a charge of 12 pC
(1 pico Coulomb = 10-12 C), and is hovering 1 mm above a pollengrain, which
has a charge of -0.01 pC. Treating both the bee and pollen as pointcharges
a. What is the force on the pollen grain?
b. If the pollen grain’s mass is 3.8 x 10-9 g, is the forcesufficient to lift the
grain?
c. Does the pollen have to be negatively charged to be attracted tothe bee?
Explain.
Explanation / Answer
Assume that a bee has acquired a charge of 12 pC (1 pico Coulomb = 10-12 C), and is hovering 1 mm above a pollengrain, which has a charge of -0.01 pC. Treating both the bee and pollen as pointcharges a. What is the force on the pollen grain? force=9*109*12*10-12*0.01*10-12/1*10-3*1*10-3=108*10-11N b. If the pollen grain’s mass is 3.8 x 10-9 g, is the forcesufficient to lift the grain? force required to lift pollen grain=mg=3.8 x 10-9*10-3*9.8=37.24*10-12N which is less than 108*10-11N hence the force is sufficient to lift the grain. c. Does the pollen have to be negatively charged to be attracted tothe bee? Explain. need not be . because though pollen have no charge , due to induction when bee is flying at a distance of 1mm opposite charge will beinduced on the pollen and will be attracted.
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