Question

A dipole placed in an electric field will... Try to align along the direction of the field. Try to align antiparallel to the direction of the field. try to align perpendicular to the field. none of these choices.

Answer 1

The dipole always tries to align in the direction of electric field so that the net torque is zero.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a dipole placed in an electric field at any arbitrary angle, it experiences a torque.

Let the dipole moment is p, electric field is E and the angle is A.

The torque is given by

Torque = p E sin A

where, A is the angle between the electric field and dipole moment.

So, the dipole always tries to align in the direction of electric field so that the net torque is zero.