I Does the Skin Effect cause charge to accumulate on the surface of a conductor?

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The discussion centers on the relationship between the skin effect and charge accumulation on the surface of conductors. It is clarified that the skin effect, which occurs with alternating current, increases resistance and does not directly relate to static surface charge accumulation. To maximize surface charge, a high voltage DC supply is recommended, as capacitance is fixed by the conductor's geometry. The participants also discuss the challenges of achieving surface currents on irregularly shaped conductors and the implications of using AC versus DC. Ultimately, the focus remains on understanding how to effectively generate and control surface currents for specific applications.
  • #31
Sibilo said:
the current follows the path with less resistance
A point of information; this is not true. Current is shared between multiple paths and the proportion of each share. relates to the resistance (the inverse of the resistance) of each path. This is very relevant to how anything you build will perform.
Sibilo said:
I really don't need an image or photo in my opinion,
You certainly do need one if you want to make any sense to us. I would go as far as to say that. if you can't draw your plan then you could never build your experiment.
 
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  • #32
Baluncore said:
Such as liquid mercury or molten metal?

Which water surface with what? Across the boundary between the conductor and the electrolyte?
Or along the conductor surface, parallel to and within the conductor, but not along the electrolyte boundary equipotential contact with the conductor?

The conductive electrodes must be in contact with the electrolyte for an electron or ionic current to flow. If you place conductive electrodes on the surface of an electrolyte solution, an ionic current will flow deep through the volume of the solution. Ions move both ways through the liquid electrolyte, while electrons move through the conductive metal electrode. The ionic current flows through the bulk of the liquid, not along its external surface.

It is only where the electron current that flows in the conductor, is converted to an ionic current flowing in the electrolyte, that electrochemical reactions take place between the conductor and the electrolyte.

The EM skin effect is only significant in materials that make excellent electrical conductors.
Yes, you said it right, in fact in electrolytes we are talking not about electronic conduction but about the migration of ions. Furthermore, I didn't know that the skin effect doesn't work in electrolytes and therefore there is no conduction on the surface, this puts me in difficulty. I have to place the conductive electrodes in contact with the surface of the electrolyte liquid, without going deep but just touching it. furthermore I cannot use a DC because in this case I would start a chemical reaction, electrolysis. so now considering the question of electrolytes, how can I make the current flow on the surface? or more generally, how can I make the current spread as much as possible throughout the entire volume of the electrolyte, therefore also in depth?
 
  • #33
Sibilo said:
... how can I make the current flow on the surface?
Use a thin sheet of electrolyte, maybe between two glass plates, with electrodes at opposite edges between the plates.

How can you have an AC or DC current flow, without a chemical reaction at the electrode-electrolyte contact ?

You are wasting our time by not explaining what you are actually trying to achieve.
 
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  • #34
Baluncore said:
You are wasting our time by not explaining what you are actually trying to achieve.
Yeah, agreed. OP is now on a short leash in this thread...
 
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  • #35
Baluncore said:
Use a thin sheet of electrolyte, maybe between two glass plates, with electrodes at opposite edges between the plates.

How can you have an AC or DC current flow, without a chemical reaction at the electrode-electrolyte contact ?

You are wasting our time by not explaining what you are actually trying to achieve.
ok gentlemen I will do some tests for each object I use. no but I'm not wasting your time, as I already said, these are small experiments that I want to do out of curiosity, so maybe I'll do some tests and see what happens.
 
  • #36
berkeman said:
Yeah, agreed. OP is now on a short leash in this thread...
no Berkemann I'm not in a corner, but I've already said that I want to do some tests with many different conductive objects, so I'll start doing the tests
 
  • #37
It's a bit lenghty to do it here in the forum, but why don't you just try to solve Maxwell's equations for the field given an (infinitely long for simplicity) conducting cylindrical wire? You find a thorough discussion in A. Sommerfeld, Lectures on theoretical physics, vol. 3.
 
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