Module 3

1. Module 3

1.31. Page 2

Module 3 Lesson 5

Module 3—Electrical Phenomena

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In this photo, three BASE jumpers wearing parachutes are shown leaping from the top of a tall structure. One of the jumpers appears to have a camera on his head. A city landscape is shown in the background.

These BASE (building, antenna, span, earth) jumpers are about to enjoy a “huge dose of adrenaline” as they accelerate toward Earth’s surface before opening their parachutes. When they reach their highest speed, the kinetic energy of the jumpers will be electrifying. What is the source of this vast amount of kinetic energy?

You could say that the peak kinetic energy enjoyed by each jumper on the way down was earned by the work done in the climb on the way up. Recall from previous courses that when work is done to change the position of an object, the system containing the object gains potential energy. In this case, since each jumper does work against the force of gravity, each jumper increases the gravitational potential energy of the “jumper-Earth system” as they climb to the top of the platform.

In previous lessons, you have seen many similarities between the gravitational field and the electric field. It’s natural to wonder if a charged object could store potential energy by doing work in an electric field, similar to the way that the BASE jumpers stored potential energy by doing work in a gravitational field.

You will have an opportunity to solve this problem in the next lab activity.