Can Electric Field Penetrate Non-Conducting Sheets?

AI Thread Summary
Electric fields can penetrate non-conducting sheets, as the charges within the material remain fixed and do not influence the external electric field. The problem can be approached by treating the charged surfaces as enclosed within a Gaussian surface, ignoring the negative charge at infinity. The absence of a dielectric constant implies that there is no polarization affecting the electric field. The distance from the charged surfaces does not impact the electric field's behavior. Understanding these principles clarifies how to solve related problems effectively.
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http://noether.physics.ubc.ca/Physics153/assignt222k6.pdf
^ number 2.

I don't get this problem. if the plastic sheets are non-conducting, does that mean the electric field can't penetrate the sheets? and how should i do this problem?
 
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Nonconducting means that the charges stay where they're put.
Since they don't tell you a dielectric constant (polarization \kappa),
presume that there is ZERO polarization in the material ...
the E-field is completely uneffected by the plastic (but NOT the charges!).

Start by enclosing all 4 charged surfaces
(but not the negative charge at infinity ...)

Incidently, the distance of the point from the surfaces is unimportant.
 
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