Question

If a charged body is placed near a neutral conductor, then

• A. It may repel or attract conductor, depending on its shape
• B. It will not exert either attractive or repulsive force on conductor
• C. It will repel the conductor
• D. It will attract the conductor

Answer 1

The correct option is D It will attract the conductor

When the charged body is placed in vicinity of the neutral conductor, it will induce opposite charge on the surface facing it. This happens due to induction.


$\Rightarrow$ In order to maintain the conductor neutral, exactly equal amount of opposite charge will appear on the opposite surface of the conductor.
Thus attractive forces will dominate and charged body will attract the conductor.

$\begin{array}{c}\text{Why this question ?}\\ \text{Bottom line}:\text{If two bodies are getting attracted it may be possible that one of them is electrically neutral.}\\ \text{However if bodies are getting repelled it means that both have simillar charges.}\\ \text{Thus, repulsion is a sure test of presence of charge on a body.}\end{array}$