A medical defibrillator is required to deliver of energy to a patient at an initial…
PHYSICS · Subjective · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences
Problem
A medical defibrillator is required to deliver 250J of energy to a patient at an initial discharge potential difference of 2000V.
(a) Determine the capacitance that must be charged to achieve this energy.
(b) During discharge the current flows through the patient, whose effective resistance may be taken as 2.0kΩ. Calculate the peak current at the start of the discharge.
(c) Explain briefly why such a high potential difference is used rather than delivering the same energy at a much lower voltage.