If the electric field inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium is zero, what can be said about the charge distribution?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the electric field inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium is zero, what can be said about the charge distribution?
Charge is uniformly distributed
Charge is concentrated at the center
Charge resides on the surface
Charge is absent
In electrostatic equilibrium, excess charge resides on the surface of the conductor, leading to zero electric field inside.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If the electric field inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium is zero, what can be said about the charge distribution?
Solution: In electrostatic equilibrium, excess charge resides on the surface of the conductor, leading to zero electric field inside.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what a conductor is. A conductor is a material that allows electric charges to move freely.
Step 2: Know what electrostatic equilibrium means. It means that the charges in the conductor are at rest and not moving.
Step 3: Remember that the electric field inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium is zero. This means there is no force acting on the charges inside the conductor.
Step 4: Realize that if the electric field is zero inside the conductor, the charges must be balanced. They cannot be inside the conductor; otherwise, they would create an electric field.
Step 5: Conclude that excess charge must be on the surface of the conductor. This is because the charges move to the surface until they reach a point where the electric field inside is zero.
