In an electrostatic situation, are all charges really at rest?

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In an electrostatic situation, all charges are considered to be at rest, meaning that the electric field within a conductor is zero. If the electric field were not zero, excess charges would move, contradicting the definition of electrostatics. The discussion clarifies that "all charges" refers to the excess charges introduced to the neutral system, as any movement would indicate a non-static condition. It emphasizes that in a perfect conductor, free charges will redistribute themselves to eliminate any internal electric field. Therefore, charges cannot be moving at constant speeds in an electrostatic context.
SpartanG345
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Hi

My textbook mentions

"We know that in an electrostatic situation (with all charges at rest) the electric
field at every point in the interior of a conducting material is zero. If E were
not zero, the excess charges would move"

Can this actually be true since charges can still be moving around at constant speeds...
When they say 'all charges' do they mean excess charges you have introduced to the neutral system?
 
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SpartanG345 said:
Hi

My textbook mentions

"We know that in an electrostatic situation (with all charges at rest) the electric
field at every point in the interior of a conducting material is zero. If E were
not zero, the excess charges would move"

Can this actually be true since charges can still be moving around at constant speeds...
When they say 'all charges' do they mean excess charges you have introduced to the neutral system?

If the charges were moving at constant speeds, it wouldn't be an electrostatic situation.

Since a perfect conductor has the property that there are an unlimited number of completely free charges, any electric field inside the conductor would force the free charges to move around until eventually there was no field (and no force on them since F=qE).
 

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