Acceleration in Uniform Electric Field – Rankers Physics
Topic: Electrostatics
Subtopic: Electric Field

Acceleration in Uniform Electric Field

Assertion (A): If a proton and an electron are placed in the same uniform electric field one by one, they experience different accelerations (The only force acting on proton and electron is that exerted by uniform electric field).
Reason (R): Electric force on a test charge is independent of its mass.
 
Both (A) & (R) are true and the (R) is the correct explanation of the (A)
Both (A) & (R) are true but the (R) is not the correct explanation of the (A)
(A) is true but (R) is false
Both (A) and (R) are false

Solution:

Assertion (A) is true because \(a = F/m\). In a uniform electric field \(E\), the magnitude of force on both proton and electron is \(F = eE\). Since their masses are different (\(m_e \neq m_p\)), their accelerations \(a\) will be different. Reason (R) is true as the electric force \(F = qE\) depends on charge \(q\) and electric field \(E\), not mass \(m\). Reason (R) correctly explains Assertion (A).

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