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:
Charged Rubber Rod
Metal Sphere
Insulating Plastic Stand
Which statement explains what will happen to the negative charge, and why?
(1 point)
It will remain only on one spot of the sphere, because the low conductivity of the metal prevents the charges from spreading out.
It will slowly move to the bottom of the sphere, because the charges are heavy and will sink to the bottom.
It will only spread to the air around the sphere, because negative charges need to occupy a big area.
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.
The correct statement is: 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 charged rubber rod is touched to the neutral metal sphere, the negative charges on the rod will transfer to the sphere. The metal sphere is a conductor, meaning it allows charges to move freely. The negative charges will distribute themselves evenly over the surface of the sphere due to mutual electrostatic repulsion. This is because similar charges (negative charges in this case) repel each other and spread out as much as possible. As a result, the negative charge will spread uniformly over the surface of the sphere.