Question

Recently it has been discovered that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) are positively charged and many flowers are negativity charged (Science 340, 66 (2013)). Bees flapping wings create a positive electrical potential of up to 200 volts as they flit from flower to flower. It is speculated that this electrostatic phenomena aids in the pollination process by having the pollen electrically attracted to the bee’s body. This is shown in the picture below.

a) Experimentally, it has been determined that bees have a positive charge of 5 pC. Determine the electrostatic force between two bees who happen to land on the same flower (assume the flower is uncharged) and assume a distance of 5 mm.

b) Suppose now some pollen grains on a bee, which is positively charged comes in contact with another flower, which has an electric field strength of nearly 3 × 10^6 V/m near its tip. If your typical pollen grain has a charge of +40 fC, determine the electrical force on the pollen grain as the bee comes very close to the flower’s tip. Express this force in microNewtons.

Answer 1