What Is the Charge Distribution on the External Surface of a Conducting Sphere?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the charge distribution on the external surface of a conducting sphere that contains a charge inside it. Participants are exploring concepts related to electrostatics, particularly the behavior of charges in conductors and the implications of Gauss's law.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are attempting to understand how to calculate the charge distribution on the external surface based on the charge inside the sphere. Questions are raised about the initial charge state of the sphere and its implications on the induced charges. There is also discussion regarding the relationship between the charges on the inner and outer surfaces.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants questioning the initial conditions of the sphere and the resulting charge distributions. Some guidance has been offered regarding the implications of induced charges and the use of Gauss's law, but there is no explicit consensus on the final charge distribution.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working with the assumption that the conducting sphere is initially neutral, and they are exploring the effects of an internal charge on the overall charge distribution. There is a noted lack of detailed information provided in the original problem statement.

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Homework Statement



Ok, so I have a charge inside a conducting sphere. I managed to calculate the electric potential inside the sphere, and also the surface charge distribution, on the interior surface of the sphere.

Homework Equations



How can I calculate the charge distribution on the external surface of the sphere?
 
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Is the conducting sphere initially electrically neutral or does it have some charge?
 
kuruman said:
Is the conducting sphere initially electrically neutral or does it have some charge?

The sphere is initially neutral. All the charge on it is induced by the point-like charge inside it.
 
What is the net charge of the inner surface (assuming you already solved it, you are sorely lacking details)? Then what does this make the net charge inside of the outer surface? Then, using Gauss's law, what should the charge distribution on the surface be?

Hopefully you understand my line of thinking, since I was given little info to work off of.
 
More to the point, if you found that there is induced charge, say Q, on the inner surface and you know that the sphere was initially neutral, what do you think the total charge on the sphere is? Is it still zero or something else?
 

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