PHYSICS II- DISCUSSION QUESTIONS-2014.

SET ONE:

The law of Electrostatics.

1a) State the law of electrostatics.

b) Define the following;

i. Electrostatic induction.
ii. Electrification.

c) Briefly explain how an object gets charged by rubbing.

d) Explain why conductors cannot be charged by rubbing.

e) Discuss how a neutral body can get attracted by a charged body.

2a) Explain how the following can be achieved;

i) Charging a metal sphere positively by induction.

ii) Charging a body negatively by induction
iii) Charging bodies simultaneously so that they acquire the same
positive charge.
iv) Charging the bodies simultaneously so that they acquire opposite
charges.

b) i) What is zero potential? Give one example of a zero potential surface.

ii) Explain how a body may be charged and remain at zero potential.

c) Briefly explain how the presence of a neutral body near a charged

conducting sphere reduces the potential of the sphere.

d) What are the precautions taken when carrying out experiments in

electrostatics?
 The gold leaf electroscope.
3) a) Draw a well labelled diagram of a gold leaf electroscope.

b) i) Describe how a gold leaf electroscope works.

ii) What are the precautions when using a gold leaf electroscope?

c) Describe an experiment to charge a gold leaf electroscope;

i) Positively.
ii) Negatively by induction.

d) Briefly explain how a gold leaf electroscope can be used to perform the
following tasks;

i) Distinguishing between conductors and insulators. (Insulating

properties of various materials.)
ii) Testing for the sign of the charge.
iii) Detecting the presence of charge on a body.
iv) Determining the magnitude of charge.

e) Explain how a charge on a given electroscope may be determined.

Charge distribution.
4) Describe an experiment to show the distribution of charge on the
following shape conductors.

i) Pear shaped.
ii) Spherical conductor.
iii) Hollow conductor.

5) A charged conducting ball is suspended by a thread and gently lowered

in a conducting container placed on an insulating stand.
Explain the distribution of charge on the conductor when

i) The ball is well inside the container but still suspended.

ii) The ball touches the inner surface of the container.

Action at sharp point/corona disharge.

6) a) What is point action?

b) Give two application of corona discharge.

c) Explain why its disastrous to carry an umbrella with a pointed tip

during thunderstorm.

d) Define the following;

i) Lightening.
ii) Lightening conductor.

e) i) Briefly explain how lightening causes structural damage.

ii) Describe how a lightening conductor safe guards buildings.

7 a) Describe with a diagram how a high voltage can be generated using a

van der Graaf generator.
b) Explain how a silk belt in a van der Graff generator acquires charge
when in action.

c) The belt of a van der Graff generator is of width 20cm and travels at a
speed of 10ms-1. The charge density on the belt is 1.510-4cm-2. The
generator is connected to a resistor of 90M. Determine;

i) The maximum steady current that can be drawn from the

generator.
ii) Maximum potential difference across the resistor.
iii) The minimum possible power output of the motor which drives the
belt.

d) A large Vander Graff generator has a top terminal in form of a sphere

of diameter 4.5m. When the terminal is at the operating potential of
3.5MV, find:

i) The stored charge.

ii) Stored energy.
iii) Potential gradient at the surface.

e) Mention two application of voltages generated by the Vander Graff

generator.