Question

Ordinary rubber is an insulator. But the special rubber tyres of aircrafts are made slightly conductive. Why is this necessary?
(A) The charge developed due to atmospheric electricity finds its way to the earth.
(B) The charge developed due to friction finds its way to the earth.
(c) The charge developed due to induction finds its way to the earth.
(D) The charge developed due to the aircraft engine finding its way to the earth.

Answer 1

Hint: Static electricity in an object is due to the imbalance between negative and positive charges in that object. These charges can build up on the surface of an object until they find a way to be discharged or released from the object. In order to remove static electricity from the object any of the parts of a conductive object must be connected to earth ground.

Complete step by step Solution
Airplane tyres are different from car, truck or bicycle tyres. In fact, airplane tyres are common with these tyres as they do with running shoes and they are all made of rubber. They all provide cushioning and support. Airplane tyres also have the conducting strips which are built into the tyre grooves. The airplane tyres have to deal with enormous amounts of forces when the airplane tends to land. Especially airplane tyres have to deal with friction.

The friction occurs when the two contact surfaces move against each other. Thus, airplane tyres create friction when they hit the runway. So, the friction generates the static electricity on the tyre and it can be discharged by the conductive strips in the tyres when they get contact with earth (ground). If static electricity were to be created during landing or takeoff, then it could create a spark. Then the created spark could ignite the fuel in the plane.

Thus, to discharge the static charge which is created in the airplane tyre due to friction of the airplane tyre and ground. The airplane tyres are made up of special rubber and slightly conductive in nature.

Hence the option (B) is correct

Note: The airplane tyres are filled with nitrogen gas. It is used because nitrogen is a non-flammable gas and it does not corrode the metal parts of the plane. Nitrogen won’t oxidize (break down) the rubber in the tyres. The tyres are made up of three layers of rubber. Each layer of rubber is laid down in a different direction which makes the tyre stronger and it gives better traction while landing.