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the charge on a body can be distributed throughout the entire volume only if the body is non-conducting,and the charge on a conducting body can reside only on the surface. I'm confused , why?
thanks.... i got it ... but why can the charge be distributed throughout the entire volume only for a nonconducting body??/All charges are surrounded by lines of force (electric fields). If there are charges iwithin conducting bodies, there are also electric fields. But electric fields don't exist in conducting bodies, because if there were, the charges would move (conduct) to cancel the electric fields. Therefore there are no free (excess) charges within conducting bodies. There can be charges on the inside surface of a conducting sphere, but only if there are matching free charges within the enclosed volume. Gauss's theorem in the conducting sphere (integral[E*n da] = integral [rho dv] = 0) requires no electric field within the conducting sphere, so no net enclosed charge. In short, use Gauss's Law.