Current into ground

Electricity and Magnetism Level 2

The Earth's atmosphere is constantly bombarded by cosmic ray protons that originate somewhere in space. If the protons all pass through the atmosphere, each square meter of the Earth's surface would be hit by protons at an average rate of 1500 protons/sec . 1500 \text{ protons/sec}. If the total surface area of the Earth is 5 × 1 0 14 m 2 , 5 \times 10^{14} \text{ m}^2, what is the electric current intercepted by the Earth?

120 A 120 \text{ A} 0.12 A 0.12 \text{ A} 1.2 A 1.2 \text{ A} 12 A 12 \text{ A}

Krishna Singh by Krishna Singh , 22, India

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2 solutions

Rohit Ner
Jun 2, 2015

Current=Charge/Time In unit time, total charge passing through the atmosphere equals to , 1500 × 5 × 10 14 × 1.6 × 10 − 19 = 0.12 A \large 1500\times 5 \times {10}^{14} \times 1.6 \times {10}^{-19}\\ \huge\color{#3D99F6}{=\boxed{0.12A}}

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photons have no charge. that solution uses the charge for an electron (1.6E-19 C). If cosmic rays were electrons, not photons, that solution would make sense. however, photons do not produce a current unless the medium absorbs them.

Ulyana S - 3 years, 7 months ago
Satvik Choudhary
Jun 2, 2015

In hc verma it is given that the overall charge on earth is negative. Can you explain that

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