The figures below show six segments of wires that are carrying electric currents
ID: 1550698 • Letter: T
Question
The figures below show six segments of wires that are carrying electric currents. In all six cases, the currents are flowing to the right. As you can sec from the values in the figures, the pieces of the wires shown have different lengths, and they are carrying different currents. For the ranking below, we are only interested in the segments of the wires actually shown in the figures. Rank these segments from greatest to smallest on the basis of the net electric charge, i.e., the difference in number of positive charges and negative charges in each segment. That is, put first the segment (hat has the greatest net electric charge on it, and put last the segment that has the smallest net electric charge on it. Greatest 1 _____ 2 _____ 3 _____ 4 _____ 5 _____ 6 _____ Smallest Or, all of these segments have the same net charge._____ Or, the net charge is zero for all of these segments._____ Please carefully explain your reasoning.Explanation / Answer
The net charge is zero for all these segments. The metallic wire carrying current is electrically neutral because the net charge in the conductor is zero. This is because in general analysis, the wires are considered as dimensionless except it's length. The dimensions are considered only when the resistance is needed to be calculated. Well the wire is neutral as the net charge present is zero. It is carrying current due to the motion of charged particles (electrons) but not due to add/loss of charge, which would have made it charged. A wire/resistor cannot store charge. Carrying current simply implies that charge carriers that already existed in the metal wire is in motion. A material possess charge, only if an imbalance in +,- charge carriers exist. In metals the +,- charge carriers are balanced, hence doesn't possess any charge in the first place. And when its carrying current, the charge carriers that are lost from one end is replenished through the other end of the wire retaining the +,- charge balance.
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