Question

Which of the following is not a property of charge?
A) Additivity
B) Quantization
C) Continuity
D) Conservation

Answer 1

Hint: Electric charge is the most fundamental and constituent property of elementary particles of matter, due to which electric and magnetic interactions take place. It represents the amount of energy a particle carries or can transfer.

Complete step by step answer:
The basic properties that an electric charge follows from the definition are:
1) Additivity of charges: Charges add up like real numbers and thus behave as scalars.
For example, if any system has ‘n’ number of charges ${Q_1}$ , ${Q_2}$ , ${Q_3}$ ...….${Q_n}$ then the total charge of the system is
$Q = {Q_1} + {Q_2} + {Q_3} + .......{Q_n}$; Where proper signs should be used to add the charges.

2) Charge is conserved: This states that, “Charge can neither be created nor be destroyed, but can be transferred from one body to another.” Thus, charge of an isolated system is conserved.

3) Quantization of charges: This suggests that all free charges are quantized and are integral multiples of a unit of charge $e = 1.6 \times {10^{ - 19}}C$ i.e. the charge of an electron or proton.
$ \Rightarrow q = ne$; Where $n = $ any positive or negative integer

4) Invariance: This describes the property of electric charge to be of relativistic invariance, i.e. the charge is independent of speed; unlike mass.

Thus, Option (C) is correct.

Note: Charges are of two types- positive and negative charges. The nature of charges is only responsible for the forces acting and coordinating the direction of the flow. The charge on the electron and proton is the same in magnitude, with the difference being only the sign that we use to denote them, + and -.