Question

Which of the following liquids is not deflected by a non-uniform electrostatic field?
A. Water
B. Chloroform
C. Nitrobenzene
D. Hexane

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question, we must know about electrostatic deflection. It refers to a way to change the path of a beam of charged particles by using the electric field which is applied transverse to the path of particles.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
Water molecule is formed of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom, and its overall structure is bent. This is because the oxygen atom, in addition to making bonds with the hydrogen atoms, also carries two pairs of unshared electrons. All of the electron pairs either they are shared or unshared—repel each other. Since electric fields induce dipole moments, even nonpolar molecules show deflection if the field is strong enough.

Chloroform is formed by heating ethyl alcohol, acetaldehyde or methyl ketone such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone with an aqueous solution of chlorine and an alkali. As it has a low dielectric constant, it is considered a nonpolar molecule. In the case of chloroform due to its bulky chloride groups lead to a low dielectric constant and its nonpolar solvent properties. So, the Chloroform shows deflection in the non uniform electrostatic field

Nitrobenzene is an organic compound which has a C₆H₅NO₂ chemical formula . It has a nitro group attached to a benzene ring. The benzene ring is not polar. A nitro group is polar. Now its solubility in water. Mostly, polar molecules are soluble, if not completely miscible, in water. But nitrobenzene has a solubility of only 0.19 g/ml. So it would be reasonable to say that nitrobenzene has some polar character, but it’s not a very polar molecule like ethanol.

Hexane is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and has the molecular formula C₆H₁₄. Hexane is nonpolar in nature because of its symmetric geometrical structure. Although Carbon and hydrogen have an electronegativity difference of 0.35, the dipole gets cancelled out because of the symmetry making C₆H₁₂ a polar molecule. So it is not deflected by a non uniform electrostatic field.
Thus, Option (D) is correct.

Note: To answer these types of questions, we must have the knowledge of all the liquids. By understanding the polarity of all the liquids, we are able to choose the correct option.