Question

This a question I am asking purely out of curiosity, no right or wrong answers, I just want to hear your opinion.

What are some real life applications or examples of electric potential or Coulomb's Law?

For example, I know that DNA is negatively charged and is attracted to positively charged poles during gel electrophoresis.

I am mostly interested in finding out what other things in life utilize postive/negative charge relationships. Doesn't have to be fancy, any examples are fine :) Thank you!

Answer 1

Some real life applications of electric potential or Coulomb's Law which are given as :

(i) Xerography = Most copy machines use an electrostatic process called xerography . The major steps in a process are the charging of photoconducting drum, transfer of an image creating a positive charge duplicate, attraction of toner to the charged parts of drum and transfer of toner to the paper.

(ii) Smoke Precipitators and Electrostatic Air Cleaning = The electrostatic part of this process which places excess charge on smoke, dust, pollen and other particles in the air and then passes the air through an oppositely charged grid that attracts and retains the charged particles. Large electrostatic precipitators are used industrially to remove over 99% of the particles from stack gas emissions associated with the burning of coal and oil.

(iii) Ink Jet Printers and Electrostatic Painting = The ink jet printer commonly used to print computer-generated text and graphics which also employs electrostatics. It employs electrostatic charge to spray paint onto odd-shaped surfaces. Mutual repulsion of like charges causes the paint to fly away from its source. Surface tension forms drops which are attracted by unlike charges to the surface to be painted.