magnitude of acceleration

Question

A proton is placed in an electric field with a magnitude of 8.1 x 10^6 N/C. What is the magnitude of the proton’s acceleration? The mass of a proton is 1.67x10^27 kg. The charge of a proton is 1.602 x 10^-19 C.

Answer 1

This a straight forward application of Newton's second law, F = ma. The force in this case is the electric field strength times the proton's charge:

F = 8.1 x 10⁶ N/C x 1.602 x 10^-19 C = 1.298 x 10-12 N.

As F = ma, a= F/m.

a = 1.298 x 10-12 N/1.67x10^-27 kg = 7.8 x 10¹⁴ m/s²

Answer 2