Quantization of charge

 Quantization of charge

Quantization of charges deals with the transfer of charges. According to Milikan's oil drop experiment, the charge on an electron is found out to be 1.6 x 10^-19  C .It is denoted by e = 1.6 x 10^-19 C. This is called as elementary charge. Similarly charge on one proton is found to be similar to that of one electron. We are familiar with nature of charge i.e  electron is negatively charged and proton is positively charged. If q is the magnitude charge and n is no electron / proton and e is the elementary charge then,

Mathematically,  charge on 1 electron is given by

q = - ne

q = - 1 x 1.6 x 10^-19 C

q = - 1.6 x 10^-19 C

Mathematically,  charge on 1 electron is given by

q = ne

q =  1 x 1.6 x 10^-19 C

q = 1.6 x 10^-19 C

The charges on an object can be increased or decreased in the multiple of e due to the process that during charging integral number of electrons can be transferred from one body to the other i.e charges shows discrete nature. This is called as quantization of charge.

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Conservation of charges

Similar to the law of conservation of energy ,charges cannot be created nor be destroyed but it can be transferred from one system to another. Thus we can conclude that total charge of the system is always conserved.

Example : when the glass is rubbed with a silk, it becomes positively charged and silk become negatively charged. Both the material gets charged and the amount of charged developed on both the object is always equal but opposite in nature. There is net charge developed on the object but the total charge on the system is same.

Charges before Rubbing

Charges after rubbing 

We can see in figure above the total charges of the system remains same.

_{│<<<Charges│    │Coulomb's law>>>│}

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