As was mentioned in class, in air you need an electric field of strength 3x106 V/m to rip some electrons off the air and make a spark. The spark plugs in your car have a gap between their electrodes of around 0.025 inches. (a) What's the voltage difference you need to apply to the two electrodes in order to get the spark plug to actually spark? (b) what happens to the needed potential when you increase the separation between electrodes and why? (c) find the voltage needed to spark if the gap increases to 0.050 inches. (d) Why might re-gapping your plugs help a rough-running engine?

As was mentioned in class, in air you need an electric field of strength 3x106 V/m to rip some electrons off the air and make a spark. The spark plugs in your car have a gap between their electrodes of around 0.025 inches. (a) What's the voltage difference you need to apply to the two electrodes in order to get the spark plug to actually spark? (b) what happens to the needed potential when you increase the separation between electrodes and why? (c) find the voltage needed to spark if the gap increases to 0.050 inches. (d) Why might re-gapping your plugs help a rough-running engine?

University Physics Volume 2

18th Edition

ISBN:9781938168161

Author:OpenStax

Publisher:OpenStax

Chapter7: Electric Potential

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 70P: A simple and common technique for accelerating electrons is shown in Figure 7.46, where there is a...

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