Document Type

Course

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Physics 3710 – Introductory Modern Physics

Publication Date

8-28-2017

First Page

1

Last Page

4

Abstract

The classical picture of how electrons migrate through a resistor driven by an applied potential difference draws an analogy with a kind of pinball machine. In a pinball machine, gravity accelerates the pinball down the table, but the ball’s progress is impeded by collisions with bumpers, as depicted to the right. (θ is the angle the table makes with the horizontal direction.) When averaged over many collisions the ball’s average equation of motion is ma = mg sinθ − mv/τ , where a and v are directed down the table, and τ is the average time between collisions. If the table is sufficiently long, the average acceleration is approximately zero and the ball achieves a “terminal” or “drift” speed: vd = τg sinθ.

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