Homework Help: Properties of Electric Charges-review prob

1. Jan 25, 2008

lunarskull

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

(a). Calculate the number of electrons in a small, electrically neutral silver pin that has a mass of 10g. Silver has 47 electrons per atom, and its molar mass is 107.87 g/mol.
(b). Imagine adding electrons to the pin until the negative charge has the very large value of 1.00 mC. How many electrons are added for every 10^9 electrons already present?

2. The attempt at a solution

This problem seems rather simple, but for some reason part b is not making any sense to me... maybe i messed up part a, even though i've checked it through a few times...

(a) 10g/107.87(g/mol) = .0927 mol
.0927 x (6.022 x 10^23)(avgr #) x 47 electrons, which gives me 2.62 x 10^24 electrons in this 10g of silver.

(b). When I multiplied 2.62 x 10^24 (electrons) by -1.602 x 10^-19, which is the charge for a single electron, the final charge i got was 419814.96, which is obviously much larger than 1 mC.

Any idea where i went wrong on this old review problem?

2. Jan 25, 2008

Staff: Mentor

Instead of figuring out the total charge of all the electrons in the neutral silver pin (which was not asked), start by figuring out how many electrons must be added to give the pin the extra charge of -1.00 mC.

3. Apr 2, 2008

i<3math

hey, im stuck on this problem too.

i found the number of electron to give that extra charge...but im confused when the questions asks "how many electrons are added for every 10^9 electrons already present"...i just don't understand what that means...are we suppose to divide out answer by 10^9 to get some type of fractional answer?
thanks for any help! :)

4. Apr 2, 2008

Staff: Mentor

I agree that it's a bit confusing. Here's an analogous problem: Say you have 5 million dollars in the bank. You add 10 dollars. How many dollars did you add for every million dollars already in the account? Answer \$2.

Do this problem the same way. How many billions (10^9) of electrons are already present?

5. Apr 2, 2008

i<3math

wow. thanks so much, that analogy really helped!

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The text contains a homework problem with two parts, both of which are mathematical questions, and a discussion thread with attempts at solving the problem and hints for solving part (b).
multiple_questions_with_answers
Given a text passage, determine:
    1. If it contains a mathematical question (including word problems or calculations)
    2. If an answer to that mathematical question is provided in the text

First, describe the content structure you found in 1-2 sentences.

Then provide your analysis in the following format:
TYPE: <one of the following values>
- NO_QUESTION
- SINGLE_QUESTION
- SINGLE_QUESTION_WITH_ANSWER
- MULTIPLE_QUESTIONS
- MULTIPLE_QUESTIONS_WITH_ANSWERS
system
Homework Help: Properties of Electric Charges-review prob

1. Jan 25, 2008

lunarskull

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

(a). Calculate the number of electrons in a small, electrically neutral silver pin that has a mass of 10g. Silver has 47 electrons per atom, and its molar mass is 107.87 g/mol.
(b). Imagine adding electrons to the pin until the negative charge has the very large value of 1.00 mC. How many electrons are added for every 10^9 electrons already present?

2. The attempt at a solution

This problem seems rather simple, but for some reason part b is not making any sense to me... maybe i messed up part a, even though i've checked it through a few times...

(a) 10g/107.87(g/mol) = .0927 mol
.0927 x (6.022 x 10^23)(avgr #) x 47 electrons, which gives me 2.62 x 10^24 electrons in this 10g of silver.

(b). When I multiplied 2.62 x 10^24 (electrons) by -1.602 x 10^-19, which is the charge for a single electron, the final charge i got was 419814.96, which is obviously much larger than 1 mC.

Any idea where i went wrong on this old review problem?

2. Jan 25, 2008

Staff: Mentor

Instead of figuring out the total charge of all the electrons in the neutral silver pin (which was not asked), start by figuring out how many electrons must be added to give the pin the extra charge of -1.00 mC.

3. Apr 2, 2008

i<3math

hey, im stuck on this problem too.

i found the number of electron to give that extra charge...but im confused when the questions asks "how many electrons are added for every 10^9 electrons already present"...i just don't understand what that means...are we suppose to divide out answer by 10^9 to get some type of fractional answer?
thanks for any help! :)

4. Apr 2, 2008

Staff: Mentor

I agree that it's a bit confusing. Here's an analogous problem: Say you have 5 million dollars in the bank. You add 10 dollars. How many dollars did you add for every million dollars already in the account? Answer \$2.

Do this problem the same way. How many billions (10^9) of electrons are already present?

5. Apr 2, 2008

i<3math

wow. thanks so much, that analogy really helped!

Share this great discussion with others via Reddit, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook
user
The text contains a homework problem with two parts, both of which are mathematical questions, and a discussion thread with attempts at solving the problem and hints for solving part (b).

TYPE: MULTIPLE_QUESTIONS_WITH_ANSWERS