Electric Field and Potential in a conductor

AI Thread Summary
Inside a conductor, the electric field must be zero to prevent free charges from moving and creating a counteracting field. However, confusion arises when considering the electric field inside a uniformly charged spherical shell, which is not a conductor. The electric field inside a uniformly charged thin shell is indeed zero, while a uniformly charged sphere would have a non-zero electric field. Clarification is needed regarding whether the problem refers to a thin shell or a thick shell, as this distinction affects the electric field. Providing the exact question would help resolve the confusion.
bubblewrap
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So in my textbook (Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths) it said that inside a conductor, the electric field E would have to zero, since if it wasn't the free charges would move accordingly and create a electric field that cancels the original field. But in a question that soon followed, it asked me to find the potential and electric field inside a uniformly charged spherical shell. This, according to the answers, which was very straightforward; using Gauss's law to calculate the electric field and so on; produced a electric field that was NOT 0 inside the conductor, rather something that was proportional to the inverse of the distance between the point of interest and the center of the sphere. Now these two obviously contradict each other, so I'm very confused right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
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bubblewrap said:
But in a question that soon followed, it asked me to find the potential and electric field inside a uniformly charged spherical shell.
If it is uniformly charged then it is not a conductor. The proof is the very contradiction you noticed.
 
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Are you sure that is a shell and not an uniformly charged sphere? Or maybe a thick shell? What problem is that?
The field inside an uniformly charged thin shell is zero no matter if it's conductive or insulating.
 
bubblewrap said:
But in a question that soon followed,

I recommend posting the exact question word for word.
 
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