/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} Problem 1 Why can a bird perch on a high-v... [FREE SOLUTION] | 91影视

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Chapter 22: Problem 1

Why can a bird perch on a high-voltage power line without getting electrocuted?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A bird can perch on a high-voltage power line without getting electrocuted because there is no potential difference between the bird and the power line. The electric current prefers to choose the path of least resistance, which is still the power line, not the bird. However, if the bird touches the ground or another wire at a different potential, it could provide a path of lower resistance and get electrocuted.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Electric Current

Electric current, by nature, follows the path of least resistance. In a circuit, this path is usually the conductor, which in this case, is the power line.
02

Explaining Bird鈥檚 Interactions

While a bird is on a power line, the bird and the line are at the same electric potential. This is because only one point of the bird鈥檚 body is in contact with the power line, making the bird part of the 'current path'.
03

Absence of Potential Difference

In order for the current to pass through the bird, a potential difference (or voltage difference) must be formed. But since the bird and the line are at the same potential, the current continues to flow along the wire, which offers less resistance than the bird. Thus, no electric current passes through the bird鈥檚 body.
04

Clarifying Potential Dangers

However, if a bird were to touch the ground or another wire at a different potential while still perched on a singular wire, a path of lower resistance to the ground or the other wire could form, leading to electrocution.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Two metal spheres each \(1.0 \mathrm{cm}\) in radius are far apart. One sphere carries 38 nC, the other -10 nC. (a) What's the potential on each? (b) If the spheres are connected by a thin wire, what will be the potential on each once equilibrium is reached? (c) How much charge moves between the spheres in order to achieve equilibrium?

A sphere of radius \(R\) carries a nonuniform but spherically symmetric volume charge density that results in an electric field in the sphere given by \(\vec{E}=E_{0}(r / R)^{2} \hat{r},\) where \(E_{0}\) is a constant. Find the potential difference from the sphere's surface to its center.

A 2.0 -cm-radius metal sphere carries 75 nC and is surrounded by a concentric spherical conducting shell of radius \(10 \mathrm{cm}\) carrying -75 nC. (a) Find the potential difference between shell and sphere. (b) How would your answer change if the shell's charge were \(+150 \mathrm{nC} ?\)

Proton-beam therapy can be preferable to X rays for cancer treatment (although much more expensive) because protons deliver most of their energy to the tumor, with less damage to healthy tissue. A cyclotron used to accelerate protons for cancer treatment repeatedly passes the protons through a 15 -kV potential difference. (a) How many passes are needed to bring the protons' kinetic energy to \(1.2 \times 10^{-11} \mathrm{J} ?\) (b) What's that energy in eV?

It takes \(45 \mathrm{J}\) to move a 15 -mC charge from point \(A\) to point \(B\) What's the potential difference \(\Delta V_{A B} ?\)
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