Question

When a honeybee flies through the air it develops a charge of +20pC. How many electrons did it lose in the process of acquiring this charge? Express answer as a number

Answer 1

The expression for the total charge on the honeybee is as follows:

$Q=n e$

Here, $Q$ is the total charge on the honeybee, $n$ is the number of electrons, and $e$ is the charge of the electron.

The total charge that develops on the honeybee is, $Q=20 \mathrm{pC}$

The charge of the electron is,

$$e=1.6 \times 10^{-19} \mathrm{C}$$

The number of electrons that lost by the honeybee is,

$$\begin{aligned} Q &=n e \\ n &=\frac{Q}{e} \\ &=\frac{20 \mathrm{pC}}{1.6 \times 10^{-19} \mathrm{C}} \\ &=\frac{20 \mathrm{pC}\left(\frac{10^{-12} \mathrm{C}}{\mathrm{pC}}\right)}{1.6 \times 10^{-19} \mathrm{C}} \\ &=1.25 \times 10^{8} \text { electrons } \end{aligned}$$

The number of electrons lost = $1.25 \times 10^{8}$ electrons.