Final answer:
The acceleration of an electron in an electric field is significantly greater than the acceleration due to gravity. For charged particles like electrons, electrostatic forces can far exceed gravitational forces, resulting in much higher accelerations in an electric field compared to gravity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question compares the electric field acceleration of an electron to the acceleration due to gravity (g). In the examples provided, the acceleration a due to an electric field can be much greater than g. For instance, an electron in an electric field of 2.00 × 105 N/C will experience an acceleration a, which can be calculated using the formula a = F/m = qE/m, where q is the electron's charge and m is the electron's mass. As the mass of an electron is 9.11 × 10-31 kg, and its charge is -1.60 × 10-19 C, this yields an immense acceleration, much larger than g, which is approximately 9.81 m/s2 on Earth's surface.
For example, using the given electric field strength E = 2.50 × 104 N/C and the known values of charge and mass for an electron, the acceleration would be 2.63 × 1013 m/s2 upwards, which is enormously greater than the acceleration due to gravity. This contrast between gravitational and electrostatic forces shows that electrostatic forces are significantly stronger for charged particles at the microscopic level.