Welcome to Westonci.ca, the place where your questions are answered by a community of knowledgeable contributors. Connect with a community of professionals ready to provide precise solutions to your questions quickly and accurately. Experience the convenience of finding accurate answers to your questions from knowledgeable experts on our platform.

Two protons are 7.818 fm apart. (1 fm= 1 femtometer = 1 x 10-15 m.) What is the ratio of the electric force to the gravitational force on one proton due to the other proton?

Sagot :

We are given that two protons are 7.1818 fm apart. To determine the electric force between them we need to use the following formula:

[tex]F=k\frac{q_1q_2}{r^2}[/tex]

Where:

[tex]\begin{gathered} k=\text{ electric constant} \\ q_1,q_2=\text{ charges} \\ r=\text{ distance between charges} \end{gathered}[/tex]

The charge of a proton is:

[tex]q_p=1.606\times10^{-19}C[/tex]

Now, we plug in the values:

[tex]F=(9\times10^9\frac{Nm^2}{C^2})\frac{(1.606\times10^{-19}C)(1.606\times10^{-19}C)}{(1\times10^{-15}m)^2}[/tex]

Solving the operations:

[tex]F=232.13N[/tex]

Now, we need to determine the gravitational force. We will use the following formula:

[tex]F_g=G\frac{m_1m_2}{r^2}[/tex]

Where;

[tex]\begin{gathered} G=\text{ gravitational constant} \\ m_1,m_2=\text{ masses} \\ r=\text{ distance between masses} \end{gathered}[/tex]

The mass of a proton is given by:

[tex]m_p=1.67\times10^{-27}kg[/tex]

Now, we plug in the values:

[tex]F_g=(6.67\times10^{-11}\frac{Nm^2}{kg^2})\frac{(1.67\times10^{-27}kg)(1.67\times10^{-27}kg)}{(1\times10^{-15}m)^2}[/tex]

Solving the operations:

[tex]F_g=1.86\times10^{-34}N[/tex]

Now, we determine the ratio between the forces:

[tex]\frac{F}{F_g}=\frac{232.13N}{1.86\times10^{-34}N}=1.25\times10^{36}[/tex]

This means that the electric force is 1.25 by ten to the 36th times larger than the gravitational force.