Exam-style question
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What does the quantisation of charge imply about the nature of electric charge in materials?.
- A.Electric charge can be infinitely small.
- B.Electric charge is always a whole number multiple of a fundamental charge.
- C.Electric charge can only exist in certain materials.
- D.Electric charge is dependent on the temperature of the material.
Model answer
What a good answer should say
- Electric charge is always a whole number multiple of a fundamental charge.
Explanation
Why this works
The evidence from Millikan's experiment shows that all measured charges were integer multiples of the elementary charge. This indicates that electric charge is quantised and cannot take on arbitrary values.
The implication is that this quantisation is a universal property of electric charge in all materials, leading to the conclusion that charge is fundamentally discrete, which is crucial for understanding electrical phenomena in physics.
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