A scientist wipes a rubber rod with a wool cloth which leads to a negative charge on the rod. After this, the scientist touches the rod to a neutral metal sphere. This will transfer the negative charges from the rod to the sphere:
Which statement explains what will happen to the negative charge, and why?
A It will remain only on one spot of the sphere, because the low conductivity of the metal prevents the charges from spreading out.
B It will slowly move to the bottom of the sphere, because the charges are heavy and will sink to the bottom.
C It will spread uniformly over the surface of the sphere, because of the conducting nature of the sphere and similar charges push away from each other.
D It will only spread to the air around the sphere, because negative charges need to occupy a big area.
The correct statement is C: It will spread uniformly over the surface of the sphere because of the conducting nature of the sphere and similar charges push away from each other.
When the scientist touches the rod to the neutral metal sphere, the electrons on the rod will be transferred to the sphere. Since the metal sphere is a conductor, the electrons will be able to move freely throughout the sphere. Similar charges repel each other, so the negative charges will spread out as far as they can on the surface of the sphere, leading to a uniform distribution of charge.
The correct answer is C: It will spread uniformly over the surface of the sphere, because of the conducting nature of the sphere and similar charges push away from each other.
Explanation: When the negatively charged rod is touched to the neutral metal sphere, the negative charges will transfer from the rod to the sphere. The metal sphere is a conductor, meaning it allows charges to move freely. Since like charges repel each other, the negative charges will spread out over the surface of the sphere to minimize their repulsion and achieve a more stable distribution. Ultimately, the negative charges will become uniformly spread over the entire surface of the sphere.
The correct statement is C: It will spread uniformly over the surface of the sphere, because of the conducting nature of the sphere and similar charges push away from each other.
When the scientist touches the negatively charged rod to the neutral metal sphere, the electrons (negative charges) on the rod will be transferred to the sphere. The metal sphere is a conductor, meaning it allows the flow of charges. In this case, the excess negative charges will distribute themselves over the entire surface of the sphere.
This happens because charges in the metal repel each other due to their like charges. The negative charges will spread out as much as possible to minimize their interaction with each other. As a result, the negative charge will distribute uniformly over the metal sphere's surface. So statement C is the correct explanation for what will happen to the negative charge.
Statements A, B, and D are incorrect explanations because they are not consistent with the conducting nature of the metal sphere and the behavior of charges. Low conductivity (Statement A) does not prevent charges from spreading out, heavy charges sinking to the bottom (Statement B) is not a characteristic of charges, and negative charges do not need to occupy a big area (Statement D).