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What is a characteristic of a photon?
It has a negative charge
It is positively charged
It has no charge
It has a variable charge
The correct answer is: It has no charge
Photons are elementary particles that are the quanta of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. One of their defining characteristics is that they possess no electric charge. This means they do not interact with electric fields in the same way charged particles do, allowing them to travel through space without being affected by electric forces. This characteristic allows photons to freely propagate through a vacuum and different media. In contrast, the other answer choices inaccurately assign a charge to photons. The statements regarding negative charge, positive charge, or variable charge are all incorrect, as they suggest that photons have properties akin to charged particles, which they do not. Hence, the defining attribute of photons is their neutrality in terms of electric charge, firmly establishing that they have no charge at all.