Written Homework 1

PHYS 142 (Summer 2014)

Due: 6/27/2014

SOLUTION

The Spider and the Van de Graaff Generators

Take the point directly at the midpoint of the two
spheres as the origin, and describe the vertical di-
rection with the “y” co-ordinate and the horizon-
tal direction with the “x” co-ordinate. A spider
who was working at the proton factory didn’t
clean himself properly, and accidently left work
with an extra 6.25 × 1010 protons sticking to
his back. He then decided to take a shortcut
home, which involved descending between two
powerful Van de Graaff generators. These gen-
erators each create a charge of 40.0µC on two
perfectly conducting spheres whose centers are
1.00 m apart. The spider (with protons) has a
mass of 3.00 g, and is initially 80 cm above the
origin. At t = 0 he cuts his silk, and descends di-
rectly downward under the force of gravity. For
this problem, you may treat the conducting spheres
as point charges.

1. What is the initial charge that the spider is carrying? (3 pts)

The charge of a proton is e, and so the total charge on the spider is

e(6.25 × 1010 ) = (1.60 × 10−19 )(6.25 × 1010 ) = 10.0 nC.

2. Given an expression for the electrostatic potential due only to the two spheres at any point
P (outside the spheres) as a function of that point’s location vector ~r from the origin — the
only variable in your answer should be ~r. (5 pts)
Now the forumla for voltage of a point charge q is generically V = kq/d, where d is the distance from
the charge to the point P . The center of the left sphere is at the point −.5 mı̂, and the center of the
right sphere is at the point .5 mı̂. Hence, the voltage at a postion ~r is given by

k(40.0 µC) k(40.0 µC)  N · m2  1 1 

V (~r) = + = 3.6 × 105 + .
|~r + (.5 m)ı̂| |~r − (.5 m)ı̂| C |~r + (.5 m)ı̂| |~r − (.5 m)ı̂|
3. Give an expression for the electrostatic force the spider would feel due to the spheres every-
where along the y-axis (as a function of y). (5 pts)
We will use the answer to the previous experssion, along with the equations E ~ = −∇V ~ = q E.
~ and F ~
Since we are on the y-axis, ~r = y̂, and so we have
p
|~r + (.5 m)ı̂| = |~r + (.5 m)ı̂| = y 2 + (.5 m)2 .

By symmetry we can see that the only non-zero component of the force will be in the y-direction, and
so we have
 
2 y 7.2 × 10−3 N m2
∂V  N·m  ∂  
Fy = qEy = − = −q 7.2 × 105 (y 2 + (.5 m)2 )−1/2 =
∂y C ∂y (y 2 + (.5 m)2 )3/2

4. Where along the vertical line describing the spider’s (attempted) trajectory will the electro-
static force in the upward direction be at a maximum? Hint: When a function is at a maximum,
its derivative vanishes. (5 pts)
We have the force from the previous portion of the problem, so we must take the derivative and set it
to zero to find where the force is at a maximum. Computing this gives
 
 y 7.2 × 10−3 N m2 
∂Fy ∂
0= =
∂y ∂y (y 2 + (.5 m)2 )3/2
  1 3 y

= 7.2 × 10−3 N m2 − · 2y
(y 2 + (.5 m)2 )3/2 2 (y 2 + (.5 m)2 )5/2

Since this experssion equals 0, we must have that

y2
0=1−3 ; solving the quadratic equation yields y = ±35 cm.
(y 2 + (.5 m)2 )

Re-examining our force equation, we see that the force is in the upward direction only for the case of
y = 35.4 cm above the origin.

5. Will the spider make it past the Van de Graaff generators by taking this shortcut? Why or
why not? Hint: Think about the total potential energy — gravitational and electrostatic combined.
(2 pts)
The spider will make it. We compute the total potential energy everywhere along the y-axis (electro-
static plus gravitational) and find that
 N · m2  2 
Utot = Ugrav + Uelec = mgy + qV (y) = mgy + q 3.6 × 105 p
C y 2 + (.5 m)2

Since there is no initial kinetic energy, the spiders inital energy is all potential when y = 80 cm. In
order for the spider to make it, the total potential energy must never exceed this initial value (if it did,
since total energy is conserved, the kinetic energy would be negative, which is impossible). However,
graphing the total potential energy as a function of y we see immediately that the potential energy is
always decreasing with y, so that the spider won’t have any problems (fig. 1).
Of course, this result depends quite sensitively on the charge of the spider — if the spider had four
times as many protons the shortcut would never have worked . . . (fig. 2)
 Figure 1: The total potential energy of the spider as a function of y.

Figure 2: The total potential energy of the spider as a function of y if the spider had been carrying
4 times as many protons.