Which one of the following is NOT a basic property of electric charge?
- (a)Charges can be added
- (b)Charge is conserved
- (c)Charge on a body is always an integral multiple of an electron or a proton charge
- (d)Charges can be created and destroyed in an isolated system
Correct — D, Charges can be created and destroyed in an isolated system. This is NOT a property of electric charge — in fact charge is conserved, so it can be neither created nor destroyed in an isolated system. The genuine basic properties of charge are additivity (a), conservation (b) and quantisation (c).
- (a)Charges can be added — This IS a basic property (additivity): charge is a scalar and total charge is the algebraic sum of the individual charges — so it is not the exception the question asks for.
- (b)Charge is conserved — This IS a basic property: the total charge of an isolated system stays constant — so it is not the odd one out.
- (c)Charge on a body is always an integral multiple of an electron or a proton charge — This IS the property of quantisation (q = n.e) — a genuine property, not the exception.
Electric charge has three fundamental properties: it is additive (charges add algebraically), it is conserved (the net charge of an isolated system never changes), and it is quantised (any charge is an integer multiple of the elementary charge e, about 1.6 x 10^-19 C). 'Creation or destruction of charge' contradicts conservation and is therefore not a property.
The question asks for the statement that is NOT a property. Options (a), (b) and (c) restate additivity, conservation and quantisation. Option (d) directly violates conservation, so it is the exception.
- Basic properties of electric charge: additivity, conservation and quantisation.
- Conservation means net charge can be neither created nor destroyed in an isolated system.
- Quantisation means q = n.e, where e is about 1.6 x 10^-19 C.
- Charge is a scalar; like charges repel and unlike charges attract.
Charge is conserved, so it cannot be created or destroyed — option (d) is the exception.
- Conservation forbids creation or destruction of net charge — that statement is the exception.
- Additivity, conservation and quantisation are all genuine properties of charge.
Asks which statement is or is not a property of electric charge, testing additivity, conservation and quantisation.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The quantisation of electric charge means that the charge on a body is
- (a)continuous
- (b)an integral multiple of the electronic charge
- (c)always positive
- (d)always exactly 1 coulomb
Answer(b) an integral multiple of the electronic charge e.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The principle that the total charge of an isolated system remains constant is called
- (a)quantisation of charge
- (b)conservation of charge
- (c)additivity of charge
- (d)electrostatic induction
Answer(b) conservation of charge.