Question

Honey bees can acquire a small net charge on the order of 1 pC as they fly through the air and interact with plants. Estimate the magnetic force on a honey bee due to Earth's magnetic field as the bee flies near the ground from east to west. Average speed of a bee is 15 miles/hour.

HINT: Model the honey bee as a moving, charged point particle. The direction the bee flies is significant.

FEEDBACK: Model the charged honey bee as a point particle.

Answer 1

`3.35\cdot 10^(-16)N`

Step-by-step explanation:

The force exerted on a charged particle due to a magnetic field is given by:

`F=qvB sin \theta`

where

q is the charge of the particle

v is the velocity of the particle

B is the magnetic field strength

`\theta` is the angle between the directions of B and v

In this problem we have:

`q=1 pC=1\cdot 10^(-12) C` is the charge of one honey bee

`v=15 mi/h = 6.7 m/s` is the velocity of the bee

`B=5.0\cdot 10^(-5) T` is the average strength of the Earth's magnetic field

`\theta=90^(\circ)`, because the bee flies east to west while the Earth's magnetic field is south to north

Substituting into the equation, we find:

`F=(1\cdot 10^(-12)C)(6.7 m/s)(5.0\cdot 10^(-5) T)(sin 90^(\circ))=3.35\cdot 10^(-16)N`