1.

62 PHYSICS-XII

VERY SHORT ANSWER CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS

Problem 1. The electric charge of any body is actually farther end of the paper. The rod exerts greater attraction
a surplus or deficit of electrons. Why not protons? than repulsion on the paper because negative charge is
Solution. Electrons are loosely bound to atoms and closer to the rod than the positive charge. Hence the rod
can be readily exchanged during rubbing. Protons are attracts the piece of paper.
firmly bound inside the nucleus. They cannot be easily Problem 8. Can two like charges attract each other? If
detached. Hence electric charge of any body is just a yes, how?
surplus or deficit of electrons and not protons. Solution. Yes. If one charge is larger than the other, the
Problem 2. When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, larger charge induces equal and opposite charge on the
both acquire charges. What is the source of their electri- nearer end of the body with smaller charge. The opposite
induced charge is larger than the small charge initially
fication?
present on it.
Solution. For the electrification of a body, only
Problem 9. Why do the gramophone records get
electrons are responsible. During rubbing electrons are
covered with dust easily?
transferred from glass rod to silk. The glass rod acquires a
Solution. The gramophone records get charged due to
positive charge and silk acquires an equal negative charge.
the rubbing action of the needle. So they attract the dust
Problem 3. Is the mass of a body affected on charging? particles from the air.
Solution. Yes. Electrons have a definite mass. The Problem 10. An ebonite rod held in hand can be
mass of a body slightly increases if it gains electrons while charged by rubbing with flannel but a copper rod
the mass decreases if the body loses electrons. cannot be charged like this. Why ? [Himachal97]
Problem 4. Two identical metallic spheres of exactly
Solution. Ebonite rod is insulating. Whatever charge
equal masses are taken. One is given a positive charge q
appears on it due to rubbing, stays on it. Copper is good
coulombs and other an equal negative charge. Are their
conductor. Any charge developed on it flows to the earth
masses after charging equal ? [lIT]
through our body. So copper rod cannot be charged like this.
Solution. No. The positive charge of a body is due to It can be charged by providing it a plastic or rubber handle.
deficit of electrons while the negative charge is due to
Problem 11. Electrostatic experiments do not work
surplus of electrons. Hence the mass of the negatively
well on humid days. Give reason.
charged sphere will be slightly more than that of the
positively charged spheres. Solution. Electrostatic experiments require accumu-
lation of charges. Whatever charges appear during the
Problem 5. A positively charged rod repels a sus-
experimentation, they are drained away through humid
pended object. Can we conclude that the object is posi-
air which is more conducting than dry air due to the
tively charged?
presence of a larger number of charged particles in it.
Solution. Yes, the object is positively charged.
Repulsion is the surest test of electrification. Problem 12. A comb run through one's dry hair
attracts small bits of paper. Why ? What happens if the
Problem 6. A positively charged rod attracts a
hair is wet or if it is a rainy day? [NCERT]
suspended object. Can we conclude that the object is
negatively charged? Solution. When the comb runs through dry hair, it gets
charged by friction. The molecules in the paper get
Solution. No. A positively charged rod can attract
polarized by the charged comb, resulting in a net force of
both a neutral object and a less positively charged object.
attraction. If the hair is wet, or if it is rainy day, friction
Problem 7. How does a positively charged glass rod between hair and the comb reduces. The comb does not
attract a neutral piece of paper?
get charged and thus it will not attract small bits of paper.
Solution. The positively charged rod induces negative
Problem 13. Ordinary rubber is an insulator. But the
charge on the closer end and positive charge on the
special rubber tyres of aircrafts are made slightly
conducting. Why is this necessary? [NCERT]

Solution. During landing, the tyres of aircraft may get

highly charged due to friction between tyres and the air
strip. If the tyres are made slightly conducting, they will
lose the charge to the earth otherwise too much of static
electricity accumulated may produce spark and result in
fire.
Fig. 1.106
ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELD 1.63

Problem 14. Vehicles carrying inflammable materials Solution. The charge on any body is always an integral
usually have metallic ropes touching the ground during multiple of e. Here
motion. Why ? [Himanchal 98 ; Punjab 99 ; NCERT]
0.8 x 10-19 C
Solution. Moving vehicle gets charged due to friction. n =:J. = = 0.5
e 1.6 x 10-19 C
The inflammable material may catch fire due to the spark
produced by charged vehicle. When metallic rope is used, This is not an integer. So a body cannot have a charge
the charge developed on the vehicle is transferred to the of 0.8 x 10- 19 C. '
ground and so the fire is prevented. Problem 22. If the distance between two equal point
Problem 15. An inflated balloon is charged by charges is doubled and their individual charges are also
rubbing with fur. Will it stick readily to a conducting doubled, what would happen to the force between
wall or to an insulating wall? Give reason. [Roorkee] them ? [ISCE 95]
Solution. It will stick readily to the conducting wall. It Solution. The original force between the two charges is
induces an equal amount of charge on the conducting
wall and much smaller charge on insulating wall. So a F __ 1_ q xq
large force of attraction acts between the balloon and the - 41tEo·. ?
conducting wall.
When the individual charges and the distance
Problem 16. A metal sphere is fixed on a smooth between them are doubled, the force becomes
horizontal insulating plate. Another metal sphere is
placed a small distance away. If the fixed sphere is given
a charge, how will the other sphere react ?
Solution. The charge on the fixed sphere induces
Hence the force will remain same.
unlike charge at the closer end and like charge on the far
end of the free sphere. et attraction act on the free Problem 23. The electrostatic force between two
sphere and so it gets accelerated towards the fixed sphere. charges is a central force. Why ?

Problem 17. Is there some way of producing high Solution. The electrostatic force between two charges
voltage on your body without getting a shock? acts along the line joining the two charges. So it is a central
Solution. If we stand on an insulating surface and force.
touch the live wire of a high power supply, a high poten- Problem 24. How is the Coulomb force between two
tial is developed on our body, without causing any shock. charges affected by the presence of a third charge?
Problem 18. A charged rod attracts bits of dry cork Solution. The Coulomb force between two charges
which after touching the rod, often jump away from it does not depend on the presence of a third charge.
violently. Why?
Problem 25. Two equal balls having equal positive
Solution. The charged rod attracts the bits of dry cork charge 'q' coulombs are suspended by two insulating
by inducing unlike charge at their near ends and like
strings of equal length. What would be the effect on the
charge at their far ends. When the cork bits touch the rod,
they share the charge of the rod of the same sign and so force when a plastic sheet is inserted between the two ?
get strongly repelled away. [CBSEOD 14]

Problem 19. What does q1 + q2 = 0 signify in Solution. The force between the two balls decreases
because x{Plastic) > 1 and FIX: 1/ K.
electrostatics? [CBSE 00 01C]
Or Problem 26. Force between two point charges kept at
a distant d apart in air is F. If these charges are kept at
Two charges q1 and q2' separated by a small distance
the same distance in water, how does the electric force
satisfy the equation q1 +q2 = 0. What does it tell about
between them change? [CBSE 00 11]
the charges? [CBSE F 03]
Solution. Dielectric constant for water, K = 80
Solution. The equation signifies that the electric
charges are algebraically additive and here q1 and q2 are F =Fair=£
water K 80
equal and opposite.
Problem 20. ame the experiment which established Thus the force in water is 1/80 times the original force
the quantum nature of electric charge. [CBSE 00 98] in air.
Solution. Millikan's oil drop experiment for deter- Problem 27. The dielectric constant of water is 80.
mining electronic charge. What is its permittivity? [Haryana 97C]
Problem 21. Can a body have a charge of 0.8 x 10-19 C?
Solution. Dielectric constant, K =~
Justify your answer by comment? [Himachal 99C] Eo
 1.64 PHYSICS-XII

:. Permittivity, E = KEO = 8.854 x 10-12 x 80 Problem 34. How do charges interact ?

= 7.083x10-10C2N-lm-2. Solution. The electric field of one charge exerts a force
on the other charge and vice versa.
Problem 28. Give an example to illustrate that electro-
static forces are much stronger than gravitational forces. Charge :;::::':Electric field :;::::':
Charge.
Solution. A charged glass rod can lift a piece of paper Problem 35. An electron and a proton are kept in the
against the gravitational pull of the earth on this piece. same electric field. Will they experience same force and
This shows that the electrostatic force on the piece of have same acceleration ?
paper is much greater than the gravitational force on it.
Solution. Both electron and proton will experience
Problem 29. Two electrically charged particles, force of same magnitude, F = e£ Since a proton has 1836
having charges of different magnitude, when placed at a times more mass than an electron, so its acceleration will
distance 'd' from each other, experience a force of be 1/1836 times that of the electron.
attraction 'F'. These two particles are put in contact and
Problem 36. Why direction of an electric field is
again placed at the same distance from each other.
taken outward (away) for a positive charge and inward
What is the nature of new force between them ? (towards) for a negative charge?
Is the magnitude of the force of interaction between Solution. By convention, the direction of electric field
them now more or less than F? [CBSE Sample Paper 11)
is the same as that of force on a unit positive charge. As
Solution. When the two particles are put in contact, this force is outward in the field of a positive charge, and
they share the difference of charge identically. Hence the inward in the field of a negative charge, so the directions
two particles repel, with a force less than F. are taken accordingly.
Problem 30. An electron moves along a metal tube Problem 37. A charged particle is free to move in an
with variable cross-section, as shown in Fig. [Link] electric field. Will it always move along an electric
will its velocity change when it approaches the neck of field ? [lIT)
the tube?
Solution. The tangent at any point to the line of force
gives the direction of electric field and hence of force on a
"---~---- charge at that point. If the charged particle starts from
rest, it will move along the line of force. If it is in motion
----~/ and moves initially at an angle with the line of force, then
resultant path is not along the line of force.
Fig. 1.107
Problem 38. A small test charge is released at rest at a
Solution. The positive charge induced on the neck of point in an electrostatic field configuration. Will it
the tube will accelerate the electron towards the neck. travel along the line of force? [. 'CERT)
Problem 31. Why should a test charge be of negli- Solution. Not necessarily. The test charge will move
gibly small magnitude? along the line of force only if it is a straight line. This is
Solution. The magnitude of the test charge must be because a line of force gives the direction of acceleration
small enough so that it does not disturb the distribution of and not that of velocity.
the charges whose electric field we wish to measure Problem 39. Why do charges reside on the surface of
otherwise the measured field will be different from the the conductor?
actual field.
Solution. Charges lie at the ends of lines of force.
Problem 32. In defining electric field due to a point These lines of force have a tendency to contract in length.
charge, the test charge has to be vanishingly small. How The lines of force pull charges from inside a conductor to
this condition can be justified, when we know that its outer surface.
charge less than that on an electron or a proton is not
Problem 40. Why is electric field zero inside a
possible?
charged conductor?
Solution. Because of charge quantisation, the test
Solution. This is because charges reside on the surface
charge qo cannot go below e. However, in macroscopic
of a conductor and not inside it.
situations, the source charge is much larger than the
charge on an electron or proton, so the limit qo ~ 0 for the Problem 41. Why do the electrostatic field lines not
test charge is justified. form closed loops? [CBSE OD 14, 15)

Problem 33. What is the advantage of introducing the Solution. Electrostatic field lines start from a positive
concept of electric field ? charge and end on a negative charge or they fade out at
Solution. By knowing the electrical field at a point, the infinity in case of isolated charges without forming any
force on a charge placed at that point can be determined. closed loop.
 ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELD 1.65

Alternatively, electrostatic field is a conservative field. Problem 46. Why is it necessary that the field lines
The work done in moving a charge along a closed path from a point charge placed in the vicinity of a conductor
must be zero. Hence, electrostatic field lines cannot form must be normal to the conductor at every point.
closed loops. [CBSEF09]
Problem 42. Do the electric lines of force really exist? Solution. If the field lines are not normal, then the field.
-4
What is about the field they represent? E would have a tangential component which will make
Solution. Lines of force do not really exist. These are electrons move along the surface creating surface currents
hypothetical curves used to represent an electric field. But and the conductor will not be in equilibrium.
the electric field which they represent is real.
Problem 47. Fig. 1.111 shows two P,
Problem 43. Draw large metal plates, Pl and P2, tightly held
lines of force to represent
against each other and placed between
a uniform electric field.
-> two equal and unlike point charges
[CBSE00 95] ------------~--~~ E perpendicular to the line joining them. +Q -Q
Solution. The lines of
(i) What will happen to the plates
force of a uniform electric
when they are released ?
field are equidistant
parallel lines as shown in Fig. 1.108 Uniform electric field. (ii) Draw the pattern of the electric
Fig. 1.108. field lines for the system.
Problem 44. Fig. 1.109 shows electric lines of force [CBSEF 09] Fig. 1.111
due to point charges ql and q2 placed at points A and B Solution.
respectively. Write the nature of charge on them. (i) When released, the two plates tend to move
[CBSEF 03] apart slightly due to the charges induced in them.
(ii) The pattern of the electric field lines for the
system is shown in Fig. 1.112.

- +

+Q (1--------+-----+-11++----- .•..-------:0 -Q
Fig. 1.109

Solution. As the lines of force are pointing towards ql

as well as Q2' so both ql and Q2 must be negative charges. - +
Problem 45. A positive point charge (+ q) is kept in
the vicinity of an uncharged conducting plate. Sketch
Fig. 1.112
electric field lines originating from the point charge on
to the surface of the plate. [CBSE00 09] Problem 48. In the electric field shown in Fig. 1.113,
Solution. Starting from the charge + q, the lines of the electric field lines on the left have twice the
force will terminate at the metal plate, inducing negative separation as that between those on the right. If the
charge on it. At all positions, the lines of force will be magnitude of the field at point A is 40 NC-l, calculate
perpendicular to the metal surface, as shown in Fig. 1.110.
the force experienced by a proton placed at point A Also
+q find the magnitude of electric field at point B.

: ;;-
~
:: -A

:
·B

Fig. 1.110 Fig. 1.113