An electron possesses a negative charge of:

Correct option is B

The correct answer is (b) 1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C

Explanation:
• An electron is a subatomic particle that carries a fundamental negative electric charge.
• The magnitude of this charge is approximately 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ coulomb (C), usually rounded to 1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C in standard textbooks.
• This value is known as the elementary charge, which represents the smallest unit of electric charge that can exist independently.
• Since an electron is negatively charged, the charge is often written as −1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C to indicate its polarity.
• The charge of the electron was first measured precisely by Robert A. Millikan in 1909 through the famous oil-drop experiment.

Information Booster:
• While an electron has a negative charge, a proton carries an equal and opposite positive charge of +1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C.
• The mass of an electron is approximately 9.1 × 10⁻³¹ kg, which is about 1/1836 times the mass of a proton.

Additional Knowledge:
• 16 × 10⁻¹⁹ C (Option a):
This is a common distractor that misses the decimal point and is ten times larger than the actual charge of an electron.

• 26 × 10⁻¹⁹ C (Option c):
This value is incorrect and does not correspond to the charge of any fundamental subatomic particle.

• 1.8 × 10⁻¹⁹ C (Option d):
This is an incorrect value, often used as a near-miss distractor in competitive examinations.