Electric Field at Surface of Earthed Sphere (using image charges)

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating the electric field at the surface of an earthed conducting sphere influenced by an external charged sphere. An image charge is introduced to simplify the analysis, with specific formulas provided for its location and magnitude. While the electric potential is zero on the sphere's surface, the electric field is not zero due to the gradient of the potential. The analogy to gravitational potential is made, illustrating that a zero potential does not imply a zero field. Thus, the electric field at the surface is non-zero despite the potential being zero.
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"A charged sphere is a distance d from the centre of an earthed sphere conducting sphere of radius a. An image charge (q') for this system is located at a distance b from the centre of the sphere where:

q'= -(aq/d) and b=(a^2)/d

Calculate the expression for the Electric field at point p being on the surface of the sphere directly above the surface."

Would the Electric field be zero. As the Electric potential would surely be zero on the surface of the sphere and the E field is just -grad of the potential?
 
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The potential is zero on the surface (and in the interior), but non-zero everywhere else. This gives a non-zero electric field.
In a similar way, you can define the floor as area of zero gravitational potential - and still get a gravitational field.
 
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