An aluminium extension cable is connected to a battery.
PHYSICS · Multi-part · AP · Physics 2: Algebra-based · Electric Circuits · Electric Circuits
Problem
An aluminium extension cable is connected to a battery.
(i) The cable is 4.0m long and a potential difference of 2.4V exists between its ends. Calculate the magnitude of the electric field set up inside the cable.
(ii) The mobility of conduction electrons in aluminium is 3.2×10−3m2V−1s−1. Determine the average drift velocity of the electrons.
(iii) Estimate the time taken by an electron, on average, to travel from one end of the cable to the other under these conditions.
(iv) If 6.0×1028 electrons pass any cross-section of the cable each second, find the cross-sectional area of the cable.