A proton passes through a potential difference of 350 V. Find it's kinetic energy and velocity. What's wrong with my work?
Here's my work:
#DeltaU_e=qDeltaV=-W_e=-DeltaK=-(K_f-cancel(K_i))=-K_f#
#K_f=-qDeltaV=-(1.6*10^{-19})(350)=-5.6*10^{-19}#
So #K_f = -5.6*10^{-19} J#
This doesn't make sense though as I don't think kinetic energy can be negative. And if it is negative then what would the velocity be imaginary which definitely doesn't make sense
What am I doing wrong?
Here's my work:
So
This doesn't make sense though as I don't think kinetic energy can be negative. And if it is negative then what would the velocity be imaginary which definitely doesn't make sense
What am I doing wrong?
1 Answer
Explanation:
I realized what I did wrong. All my math was correct, but at the final step where I plugged my values into
This is because protons go from high potentials to low potentials.
So when you plugin the values, you get:
Thanks for trying to help :P