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Chapter 22: Problem 1

Why can a bird perch on a high-voltage power line without getting electrocuted?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A bird can perch on a high voltage power line without getting electrocuted because there is no potential difference across it. Both parts of bird's body touching the wire is at same electrical potential, therefore the electricity does not have any reason to flow through the bird's body to reach a different potential.

Step by step solution

01

Determining Electricity Flow

Understand that electricity always seeks the path to ground and in an electrical circuit, it's always looking for a return path to its source. In order to flow, electricity needs a potential difference.
02

Understanding Bird's Position

Analyze that when a bird perches on a single power line, both its feet are at the same electrical potential, so the electricity has no motivation to travel through the bird's body. The bird isn’t providing a path of lower resistance to the electrical current because it is not in contact with the ground or another power line at a different potential.
03

Effects of Touching Second Power Line or Ground

Take into account that the bird would get shocked if it simultaneously touched another line at a different electrical potential or if it simultaneously touched the ground. Either case would create a conductive path, closing the circuit and letting the current through the bird’s body, leading to electrocution.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Find the magnitude of the potential difference between two points located \(1.4 \mathrm{m}\) apart in a uniform \(650-\mathrm{N} / \mathrm{C}\) electric field, if a line between the points is parallel to the field.

The electric field within a cell membrane is approximately \(8.0 \mathrm{MV} / \mathrm{m}\) and is essentially uniform. If the membrane is \(10 \mathrm{nm}\) thick, what's the potential difference across the membrane?

The electric potential in a region increases linearly with distance. What can you conclude about the electric field in this region?

Two flat metal plates are a distance \(d\) apart, where \(d\) is small compared with the plate size. If the plates carry surface charge densities \(\pm \sigma,\) show that the magnitude of the potential difference between them is \(V=\sigma d / \epsilon_{0}\)

Find the potential as a function of position in the electric field \(\vec{E}=a x \hat{\imath},\) where \(a\) is a constant and \(V=0\) at \(x=0\)
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