Which statement best describes electric charge conservation?

Which statement best describes electric charge conservation?

• A. Electric charge can be created or destroyed
• B. Electric charge can be created but not destroyed
• C. Electric charge cannot be created or destroyed, only moved
• D. Electric charge remains constant in all circumstances

Answer: (C)

Electric charge conservation means that in any closed system the total amount of charge doesn’t change. Charges can move around—shifting from one object to another or through a circuit—but the sum of all positive and negative charges stays the same. That’s why the best statement is that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed, only moved: you can redistribute charge, but you can’t add or remove net charge from the system. The other ideas fail because charge can’t appear from nothing, and saying it remains constant in all circumstances glosses over real scenarios where a system can gain or lose charge from outside.

Electric charge conservation means that in any closed system the total amount of charge doesn’t change. Charges can move around—shifting from one object to another or through a circuit—but the sum of all positive and negative charges stays the same. That’s why the best statement is that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed, only moved: you can redistribute charge, but you can’t add or remove net charge from the system. The other ideas fail because charge can’t appear from nothing, and saying it remains constant in all circumstances glosses over real scenarios where a system can gain or lose charge from outside.