A typical lightning flash delivers about 27C of negative charge from cloud to ground. How many electrons are involved?
Divide the total discharge (27 C) by the electron charge, e.
To find out how many electrons are involved in a typical lightning flash, we need to know the charge per electron. The elementary charge of an electron is approximately -1.6 x 10^-19 coulombs.
Given that a typical lightning flash delivers 27C of negative charge, we can calculate the number of electrons involved using the equation:
Number of electrons = Total charge / Charge per electron
Plugging in the values:
Number of electrons = 27C / (-1.6 x 10^-19 C)
Number of electrons ≈ -1.69 x 10^20 electrons
Therefore, a typical lightning flash involves approximately 1.69 x 10^20 electrons.
To determine the number of electrons involved in a lightning flash, we can use the following steps:
Step 1: Determine the charge of a single electron. The elementary charge (e) is the charge carried by a single electron, which is approximately equal to 1.6 x 10^-19 Coulombs (C).
Step 2: Calculate the total charge delivered by a lightning flash. In this case, a lightning flash delivers 27 Coulombs (C) of negative charge.
Step 3: Divide the total charge by the charge of a single electron to find the number of electrons involved. Using the formula: Number of electrons = Total charge (C) / Charge of a single electron (C).
Let's now perform the calculation:
Charge of a single electron (e) = 1.6 x 10^-19 C
Total charge delivered by lightning flash = 27 C
Number of electrons = 27 C / (1.6 x 10^-19 C)
Calculating this division gives us the number of electrons involved in the lightning flash.