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Chapter 18: Q6CQ (page 661)

Why does a car always attract dust right after it is polished? (Note that car wax and car tires are insulators.)

Short Answer

Expert verified

Static electricity is responsible for the attraction of dust particles toward the car.

Step by step solution

01

Charging by rubbing

When two bodies are rubbed together, they become charged. One body will lose electrons, becoming positively charged, while the other gain that charge and becomes negatively charged.

02

Newly polished car attracts dust

Rubbing the surfaces creates charges on the surfaces giving rise to static electricity.

Processes such as rubbing and polishing make an uncharged surface, charged. The wax and car tires are insulators and do not allow any charge conduction. So, there are some charges on the surface of the polished car because of which the dust particles present in the air get attracted to the car.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

(a) What is the direction and magnitude of an electric field that supports the weight of a free electron near the surface of Earth? (b) Discuss what the small value for this field implies regarding the relative strength of the gravitational and electrostatic forces.


Suppose you have a total charge\({{\rm{q}}_{{\rm{tot}}}}\)that you can split in any manner. Once split, the separation distance is fixed. How do you split the charge to achieve the greatest force?

Compare and contrast the Coulomb force field and the electric field. To do this, make a list of five properties for the Coulomb force field analogous to the five properties listed for electric field lines. Compare each item in your list of Coulomb force field properties with those of the electric field—are they the same or different? (For example, electric field lines cannot cross. Is the same true for Coulomb field lines?)

What is the force on the charge located at \(x = 8.00{\rm{ }}cm\) in Figure 18.52(a) given that \(q = 1.00{\rm{ }}\mu C\)?

Figure 18.52 (a) Point charges located at \[{\bf{3}}.{\bf{00}},{\rm{ }}{\bf{8}}.{\bf{00}},{\rm{ }}{\bf{and}}{\rm{ }}{\bf{11}}.{\bf{0}}{\rm{ }}{\bf{cm}}\] along the x-axis. (b) Point charges located at \[{\bf{1}}.{\bf{00}},{\rm{ }}{\bf{5}}.{\bf{00}},{\rm{ }}{\bf{8}}.{\bf{00}},{\rm{ }}{\bf{and}}{\rm{ }}{\bf{14}}.{\bf{0}}{\rm{ }}{\bf{cm}}\] along the x-axis

A test charge of \({\rm{ + 2 \mu C}}\) is placed halfway between a charge of \({\rm{ + 6 \mu C}}\) and another of \({\rm{ + 4 \mu C}}\) separated by \(10{\rm{ cm}}\). (a) What is the magnitude of the force on the test charge? (b) What is the direction of this force (away from or toward the \({\rm{ + 6 \mu C}}\)charge)?
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