A pair of large parallel conducting plates is separated by 2.5 cm and connected to a…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · AP · Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism · Electric Charges Fields and Gauss's Law · Electric Charges Fields and Gauss's Law
Problem
A pair of large parallel conducting plates is separated by 2.5 cm and connected to a 1.50 kV power supply, establishing a uniform electric field between them. An electron is released from rest at the surface of the negatively charged upper plate and allowed to move freely toward the lower plate.
Ignore edge effects and relativistic corrections.
(a) Determine the magnitude of the acceleration experienced by the electron while it is between the plates. Express your answer with appropriate units.
(b) Calculate the time required for the electron to travel from the upper plate to the lower plate.
(c) Find the magnitude of the electron’s velocity immediately before it strikes the lower plate and state whether that speed is non-relativistic under these conditions.