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Chapter 23: Problem 11

High-voltage power lines are used to transport electricity cross country. These wires are favored resting places for birds. Why don't the birds die when they touch the wires?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Answer: Birds don't die when they touch high-voltage power lines because they don't create a closed circuit, which allows significant electric current to flow through their bodies. The power lines provide a path of least resistance for the current, ensuring that any current passing through the bird is negligible and not harmful.

Step by step solution

01

Understand electric current

Electric current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor. In order for electrical current to flow, there has to be a closed circuit. A closed circuit is a complete, unbroken loop through which charges can flow from high electrical potential (voltage) to low potential.
02

Birds and closed circuits

When a bird perches on a high-voltage power line, it is not creating a closed circuit. This is because the bird's body is only in contact with one wire, and there is no connection to another wire or to the ground for the charges to flow back to the low potential region. So, the bird doesn't provide an opportunity for the charges in the wire to flow through its body.
03

Path of least resistance

Even though birds have some resistance, the electric current would preferentially flow through the path of least resistance. Since the high-voltage power lines are made of conductive materials with very low resistance, the majority of the electric current will continue to flow through the power line rather than the bird.
04

Minimal current in birds

Although a minuscule amount of current may pass through the bird due to its presence on the wire, this is not enough to cause harm. The bird's body does not provide a direct path for the flow of electric charges between high and low electrical potential regions, so the current passing through the bird is insignificant. In conclusion, birds don't die when they touch high-voltage power lines because they don't create a closed circuit that enables significant electric current to flow through their bodies. The power lines provide a path of least resistance for the current, ensuring that any current passing through the bird is negligible and not harmful.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

The electron beam emitted by an electron gun is controlled (steered) with two sets of parallel conducting plates: a horizontal set to control the vertical motion of the beam, and a vertical set to control the horizontal motion of the beam. The beam is emitted with an initial velocity of \(2.00 \cdot 10^{7} \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}\). The width of the plates is \(d=5.00 \mathrm{~cm}\), the separation between the plates is \(D=4.00 \mathrm{~cm},\) and the distance between the edge of the plates and a target screen is \(L=40.0 \mathrm{~cm}\) In the absence of any applied voltage, the electron beam hits the origin of the \(x y\) -coordinate system on the observation screen. What voltages need to be applied to the two sets of plates for the electron beam to hit a target placed on the observation screen at coordinates \((x, y)=(0 \mathrm{~cm}, 8.00 \mathrm{~cm}) ?\)

Using Gauss's Law and the relation between electric potential and electric field, show that the potential outside a uniformly charged sphere is identical to the potential of a point charge placed at the center of the sphere and equal to the total charge of the sphere. What is the potential at the surface of the sphere? How does the potential change if the charge distribution is not uniform but has spherical (radial) symmetry?

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