Problem 68PE Construct Your Own Problem Consider identical spherical conducting space ships in deep space where gravitational fields from other bodies are negligible compared to the gravitational attraction between the ships. Construct a problem in which you place identical excess charges on the space ships to exactly counter their gravitational attraction. Calculate the amount of excess charge needed. Examine whether that charge depends on the distance between the centers of the ships, the masses of the ships, or any other factors. Discuss whether this would be an easy, difficult, or even impossible thing to do in practice.
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Textbook Solutions for College Physics
Question
Sketch the electric field lines in the vicinity of the conductor in Figure \(18.49\) given the field was originally uniform and parallel to the object’s long axis. Is the resulting field small near the long side of the object?
Figure \(18.49\)
Solution
Solution 38PE
Step 1 of 4
Conductors contain free charges that can move freely. When excess charge is placed on the conductor it gets distributed on the surface of conductor uniformly. Moreover when a conductor is placed in a electric field charges get rearranged and the steady state known as electrostatic equilibrium.
Under of effect of electric field the free charge move until the field is perpendicular to the surface. No component of field can be parallel to surface because if the parallel component of field is present it will further move the charge till the field on this charge becomes perpendicular.
Further, the charges on the conductor get polarized under the effect of electric field. The free charges move inside the conductor, polarizing it, until the field becomes perpendicular to the surface.
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