Question

In a gold leaf electroscope, the extent of divergence produced in the two leaves indicates the amount of:

Answer 1

Gold leaf electroscope:

The amount of charge transmitted to the gold leaves by any external source is shown by the degree to which the gold leaves diverge in a gold leaf electroscope.

Principle of working:

1. An electroscope made of gold leaf is a tool for locating an electric charge and determining its polarity.
2. It is based on the electrostatic induction and charges repulsion theories.
3. When a conductor experiences electrostatic induction, opposing charges occur at the conductor's closer end and comparable charges appear at the conductor's further end.
4. It is also based on a gold leaf electroscope, which consists of a conducting rod that is vertical and passes through a rubber stopper that is inserted in a glass vessel's mouth.
5. The rod's bottom end has two thin gold leaf attachments.
6. The charge travels down to the leaves when a charged object meets the metal knob at the rod's outer end.
7. The charges repel each other, causing the leaves to diverge.
8. The number of charges is measured by the degree of leaf divergence.

Hence, in a gold leaf electroscope, the extent of divergence produced in the two leaves indicates the amount of charge on the leaves.