How many coulombs pass through a wire that carries a current of 3.2 A for 5.0 h?
I=Q/t
Q=It
Q=3.2*5*60
Q=960
I am told this is not the correct answer.
an Ampere is a coulomb per second
you're off by a factor of 60
Your initial approach to solving the problem is correct. The formula I = Q/t relates current (I) to the amount of charge passing through a wire (Q) in a given time (t). By rearranging the formula, we can calculate the amount of charge as Q = I * t.
In your case, the current (I) is given as 3.2 A, and the time (t) is 5.0 h. However, you made a small mistake in converting hours to seconds. To fix this, we need to multiply the 5.0 h by 60 min/h and by 60 s/min to convert it to seconds:
t = 5.0 h * 60 min/h * 60 s/min
t = 18,000 s
Now, we can substitute the values into the formula to find the amount of charge:
Q = 3.2 A * 18,000 s
Q = 57,600 C
Therefore, the correct answer is 57,600 coulombs (C).