- #1
doggydan42
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Homework Statement
Some cell walls in the human body have a layer of negative charge on the inside surface. Suppose that the
surface charge densities are ##±0.50 \times 10^{-3} C/m^2## , the cell wall is ##5.0 \times 10^{-9} m## thick, and the cell wall material has a dielectric constant of ##\kappa = 5.4## .
(a) Find the magnitude of the electric field in the wall between two charge layers.
(b) Find the potential difference between the inside and the outside of the cell. Which is at higher potential?
(c) A typical cell in the human body has volume ##10^{−16} m^3##. Estimate the total electrical field energy stored in the wall of a cell of this size when assuming that the cell is spherical. (Hint: Calculate the volume of the cell wall.)
Homework Equations
$$U=\frac{1}{2} V^2C = \frac{1}{2}\frac{Q^2}{C} = \frac{1}{2}QV = \frac{1}{2}\epsilon_0 E^2Ad
\\ C = \kappa C_0 = \kappa \epsilon_0\frac{A}{d}\text{(for parallel plates)}
\\ C = \frac{Q}{V}= 4\pi \epsilon_0\frac{R_1R_2}{R_2-R_1}$$
The Attempt at a Solution
For part a), I used the following capacitance equation and two equations from U to solve for E:
$$\frac{1}{2} V^2C=\frac{1}{2}\epsilon_0 E^2Ad$$
By plugging in the equation for C, I solved for: ##E = \sqrt{\kappa}\frac{\sigma}{\epsilon_0}## for a charge density ##\sigma##. The result was ##E = 1.31 \times 10^8 \frac{N}{C}##
I understand I could do something with the equation: ##\frac{1}{2} V^2C = \frac{1}{2}\epsilon_0 E^2Ad##, but I was not sure what V would represent.
Thank you in Advance