Gauss Law Problem With A Spherical Conductive Shell

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 2K views
Lancelot59
Messages
640
Reaction score
1
You are a hollow metallic sphere of inner radius r1, and outer radius r2. Inside is a charge of magnitude Q and a distance d<r1 from the centre.

First I need to draw the electric field lines for regions r<r1, r1<r<r2, and r2<r

Since the sphere is a conductor the only place where there is not an electric field is inside the shell. The point charge induces a charge on the conducting sphere, making it in turn create an electric field outside the sphere.

I then need to use Gauss's law to find the electric field where possible. I think this is correct:

[tex]\int \vec{E}\cdot d\vec{A}=\frac{Q_{enclosed}}{\epsilon_{0}}[/tex]
[tex]E\int d\vec{A}=\frac{Q}{\epsilon_{0}}[/tex]
[tex]E(4\pi r^{2})=\frac{Q}{\epsilon_{0}}[/tex]
[tex]E=\frac{Q}{4\pi r^{2}\epsilon_{0}}[/tex]

For all locations that are not inside the shell. Am I correct?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Thanks for the confirmation.