Charge inside a conductive shell

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the behavior of electric fields around charged conductive shells and surfaces. It is established that an ungrounded conductive shell surrounding a charged sphere will still produce an external electric field, as confirmed by Gauss's law. Additionally, when considering an infinite conductive surface above an infinite wire with linear charge density, there will be an electric field above the surface, and the method of images can be used to analyze the situation without requiring the surface to be grounded.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Gauss's Law in electrostatics
  • Familiarity with electric fields and charge distributions
  • Knowledge of the method of images in electrostatics
  • Concept of conductive materials and their properties
NEXT STEPS
  • Study Gauss's Law applications in various geometries
  • Learn about the method of images for solving electrostatic problems
  • Explore the behavior of electric fields around conductors
  • Investigate grounding effects on conductive surfaces and their electric fields
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Students of physics, electrical engineers, and anyone interested in electrostatics and electric field theory will benefit from this discussion.

Zipi
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Hi there , I'm a bit rusty on the subject so I have 2 questions , although they are quite similar.

Anyways first one :
Lets say i have a sphere charged with Q , and around that sphere I have a conductive shell (also a shpere) at some distance from our charged sphere . The conductive shell is ungrounded. So my question is this , would there be an electrical field outside of the conductive shell ?

personally i think there would be a field outside , and only if the shell was grounded there'd be no field outside (because then the shell would receive a -Q charge and it would nullify any field outside).

Second question:
Lets say we have an infinite conductive surface , the surface is ungrounded. and below that surface at a distance 'h' we have an infinite wire with a linear charge charge density of D. so my question is quite similar.

so the question is ,would there be an electrical field above the surface , also if not or if yes , would there be a mirroring effect (i've translated it from a diffrent language so not sure if its the same in english so i'll explain). mirroring effect - basically we treat it as if there is another wire at the same distance behind the conductive surface , the field behind the surface is zero , but below it we look at the electrical field as if its a result from two wires.

and to make things easier to understand , assuming I'm not too good at explaining , i drew some pictures :P http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pewpewpewhe6.jpg


anyways here again i have my idea but since i haven't touched the subject in quite a while I am not sure.
i think that there isn't mirroring effect unless the conductive surface is grounded (because only then it receives an actual charge) and i see no reason that the conductive surface would block the electrical field above it

dont know if it may seem like a homework question , but its more of a theoretical question for myself.
 
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Zipi said:
Lets say i have a sphere charged with Q , and around that sphere I have a conductive shell (also a shpere) at some distance from our charged sphere . The conductive shell is ungrounded. So my question is this , would there be an electrical field outside of the conductive shell ?

personally i think there would be a field outside , and only if the shell was grounded there'd be no field outside (because then the shell would receive a -Q charge and it would nullify any field outside).
Yes, there will be an external electric field. Gauss law says so.

Lets say we have an infinite conductive surface , the surface is ungrounded. and below that surface at a distance 'h' we have an infinite wire with a linear charge charge density of D. so my question is quite similar.

so the question is ,would there be an electrical field above the surface , also if not or if yes , would there be a mirroring effect (i've translated it from a diffrent language so not sure if its the same in english so i'll explain). mirroring effect - basically we treat it as if there is another wire at the same distance behind the conductive surface , the field behind the surface is zero , but below it we look at the electrical field as if its a result from two wires.

anyways here again i have my idea but since i haven't touched the subject in quite a while I am not sure.
i think that there isn't mirroring effect unless the conductive surface is grounded (because only then it receives an actual charge) and i see no reason that the conductive surface would block the electrical field above it
Yes there will be an electric field. You can evaluate it by invoking the method of images. The conductive plate doesn't have to be grounded.
 

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