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ch24-lecture4

A good electrical conductor allows free movement of charges and is in electrostatic equilibrium when there is no net motion of charge, resulting in a zero electric field inside the conductor. Charges reside on the surface of an isolated conductor, and the electric field just outside is perpendicular to the surface with a magnitude related to the surface charge density. The time to reach equilibrium is extremely short, approximately 10^-16 seconds, making it effectively instantaneous for practical purposes.

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12 views

ch24-lecture4

A good electrical conductor allows free movement of charges and is in electrostatic equilibrium when there is no net motion of charge, resulting in a zero electric field inside the conductor. Charges reside on the surface of an isolated conductor, and the electric field just outside is perpendicular to the surface with a magnitude related to the surface charge density. The time to reach equilibrium is extremely short, approximately 10^-16 seconds, making it effectively instantaneous for practical purposes.

Uploaded by

salman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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24.

4 Conductors in electrostatic equilibrium:

• A good electrical conductor contains charges (electrons) that are not bound to any atom
and therefore are free to move about within the material.

• When there is no net motion of charge within a conductor, the conductor is in


electrostatic equilibrium that has the following properties:

1. The electric field is zero everywhere inside the conductor.

2. If an isolated conductor carries a charge, the charge resides on its surface.

3. The electric field just outside a charged conductor is perpendicular to the surface of the
conductor and has a magnitude σ/ε0 , where σ is the surface charge density at that point.

4. On an irregularly shaped conductor, the surface charge density is greatest at locations


where the radius of curvature of the surface is smallest.

1. The electric field is zero everywhere inside the conductor.

A conducting slab in an external electric field E.

The charges induced on the two surfaces of the slab produce an


electric field (E’) that opposes the external field (E), giving a
resultant field of zero inside the slab. The time it takes a good
conductor to reach equilibrium is of the order of 10-16 s, which
for most purposes can be considered instantaneous.

We can argue that the electric field inside the conductor must be
zero under the assumption that we have electrostatic equilibrium.
If the field were not zero, free charges in the conductor would
accelerate under the action of the field. This motion of electrons, however, would mean that the
conductor is not in electrostatic equilibrium. Thus, the existence of electrostatic equilibrium is
consistent only with a zero field in the conductor.

2. If an isolated conductor carries a charge, the charge resides


on its surface.

We can use Gauss’s law to verify the second property of a conductor in


electrostatic equilibrium.

# The electric field everywhere inside the conductor is zero when


it is in electrostatic equilibrium. Therefore, the electric field must
be zero at every point on the Gaussian surface.
# Thus, the net flux through this Gaussian surface is zero. From this result and Gauss’s law, we
conclude that the net charge inside the Gaussian surface is zero.

# Because there can be no net charge inside the Gaussian surface (which is arbitrarily close to the
conductor’s surface), any net charge on the conductor must reside on its surface.

3. The electric field just outside a charged conductor is perpendicular to the surface of the
conductor and has a magnitude σ/ε0, where is the surface charge
density at that point.

A Gaussian surface in the shape of a small cylinder is used to calculate the electric field just
outside a charged conductor. The flux through the Gaussian surface is EnA. Remember that E is
zero inside the conductor.

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