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The electric dipole moment of an HCl molecule is 3.4×10⁻³⁰ C m. The charges on the two atoms are unlike and of the same magnitude, and the distance between them is 1.0 A. The magnitude of this charge is …….

Asked in RS Academy GUJCET booklet · Dipole moment and dipole field

• (1) 1.7×10⁻²⁰ C
• (2) 3.4×10⁻²⁰ C
• (3) 6.8×10⁻²⁰ C
• (4) 3.4×10⁻¹⁰ C

Step-by-step solution

Why the other options are wrong

• (1) This divides by twice the given distance, treating 1.0 A as a instead of 2a. The distance between the charges is already the full separation.
• (3) This divides by half the distance, as if p = qa with a = 0.5 A. The dipole moment uses the full distance between the charges.
• (4) This divides by the square of the distance: (3.4×10⁻³⁰)/((10⁻¹⁰)²) = 3.4×10⁻¹⁰. Since p = qd, divide by d only once.

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