a) Explain the meaning of the statement 'electric charge of a body is quantised'.
b) why can one ignore quantisation of electric charge when dealing with macroscopic i.e., large scale charges?
a) Quantisation of Electric Charges mean the total electric charge(q) of a body is always an integral multiple of a basic quantum charge(e).
i.e.,
Here +e is taken as charge on a proton while –e is taken as charge on an electron. The charge on a proton and an electron are numerically equal i.e., 1.6 x 10
–19 C but opposite in sign.
“Quantisation is a property due to which charge exists in discrete packets in multiple of
± 1.6 x 10–19 rather than in continuous amounts.”
b) Based on many practical phenomena, we may ignore quantisation of electric charge and consider the charge to be continuous. In a macroscopic scale the number of charges used is enormous as compared to the magnitude of charge. The “graininess” of charge is lost and it appears continuous and therefore quantisation of charge becomes insignificant.
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