Conductors and Electric fields Assignment Help
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A conductor is material which allows electrons to move relatively freely from atom to atom. It was emphasized that when a conductor acquires an excess charge, the excess charge moves about and distributes itself about the conductor in such a manner as to reduce the total amount of repulsive forces within the conductor. Electrostatic equilibrium is the condition established by charged conductors in which the excess charge has optimally distanced itself so as to reduce the total amount of repulsive forces. Once a charged conductor has reached the state of electrostatic equilibrium, there is no further motion of charge about the surface.
Electric Fields Inside of Charged Conductors
Charged conductors which have reached electrostatic equilibrium share a variety of unusual characteristics. One characteristic of a conductor at electrostatic equilibrium is that the electric field anywhere beneath the surface of a charged conductor is zero. If an electric field did exist beneath the surface of a conductor (and inside of it), then the electric field would exert a force on all electrons that were present there. This net force would begin to accelerate and move these electrons. But objects at electrostatic equilibrium have no further motion of charge about the surface. So if this were to occur, then the original claim that the object was at electrostatic equilibrium would be a false claim. If the electrons within a conductor have assumed an equilibrium state, then the net force upon those electrons is zero. The electric field lines either begin or end upon a charge and in the case of a conductor, the charge exists solely upon its outer surface. The lines extend from this surface outward, not inward. This of course presumes that our conductor does not surround a region of space where there was another charge.
To illustrate this characteristic, let’s consider the space between and inside of two concentric, conducting cylinders of different radii as shown in the diagram at the right. The outer cylinder is charged positively. The inner cylinder is charged negatively. The electric field about the inner cylinder is directed towards the negatively charged cylinder. Since this cylinder does not surround a region of space where there is another charge, it can be concluded that the excess charge resides solely upon the outer surface of this inner cylinder. The electric field inside the inner cylinder would be zero. When drawing electric field lines, the lines would be drawn from the inner surface of the outer cylinder to the outer surface of the inner cylinder. For the excess charge on the outer cylinder, there is more to consider than merely the repulsive forces between charges on its surface. While the excess charge on the outer cylinder seeks to reduce repulsive forces between its excess charges, it must balance this with the tendency to be attracted to the negative charges on the inner cylinder. Since the outer cylinder surrounds a region which is charged, the characteristic of charge residing on the outer surface of the conductor does not apply.
This concept of the electric field being zero inside of a closed conducting surface was first demonstrated by Michael Faraday, a 19th century physicist who promoted the field theory of electricity. Faraday constructed a room within a room, covering the inner room with a metal foil. He sat inside the inner room with an electroscope and charged the surfaces of the outer and inner room using an electrostatic generator. While sparks were seen flying between the walls of the two rooms, there was no detection of an electric field within the inner room. The excess charge on the walls of the inner room resided entirely upon the outer surface of the room. Today, this demonstration is often repeated in physics demonstration shows at museums and universities.
The inner room with the conducting frame which protected Faraday from the static charge is now referred to as a Faraday’s cage. The cage serves to shield whomever and whatever is on the inside from the influence of electric fields. Any closed, conducting surface can serve as a Faraday’s cage, shielding whatever it surrounds from the potentially damaging affects of electric fields. This principle of shielding is commonly utilized today as we protect delicate electrical equipment by enclosing them in metal cases. Even delicate computer chips and other components are shipped inside of conducting plastic packaging which shields the chips from potentially damaging affects of electric fields. This is one more example of “Physics for Better Living
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