as electrons are accelerated by an electric field, the constantly bump into the
ID: 2047054 • Letter: A
Question
as electrons are accelerated by an electric field, the constantly bump into the atoms of the conductor.(a) do the electrons lose energy in these collisions? if so, what happens to that energy?
(b) if you increase the flow of current in the conductor, will there be more electron/atom collisions? if so, whjat do you think will happen to the conductor?
(c) if you keep the same batteries but reduce the resistance in the wore, how is the number of electron/atom collisions changed?
(d) a fuse is a device that opens or breaks a circut to prevent the flow of too much current. it is simply a strip of metal with a low melting point. how do you think it works?
Explanation / Answer
(a) Yes the electrons lose energy in the collisions and this energy goes into the conductor as heat and the temperature of the conductor rises (b) There will be more collisions because more electrons are flowing past the same point in the same amount of time. Therefore, more energy will be lost and the temperature increase of the conductor will be higher (c) If you lower the resistance of the wire, the current through the wire will increase according to Ohm's Law, but since there are less obstacles in the wire, the number of collisions may be less. But since the current has increased it is hard to tell (d) The energy is converted to heat and the metal strip heats up to the point that it melts and the fuse "breaks"
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