What's the Electric Field Inside a Sealed Metal Can in a Uniform External Field?

[victorializ]

Homework Statement

A sealed metal can is placed in a uniform external electric field of 10 N/C . The field points along the +x direction. The can is 20cm in length and 10cm in diameter. What's the value of the electric field at the center of the can?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

i'm pretty sure this has something to do with Gauss' law but I'm not sure how to relate electric flux back to electric field magnitude especially without a charge?

 

[hilbert2]

Doesn't the metal can act as a Faraday cage?

 

[victorializ]

Doesn't the metal can act as a Faraday cage?

i honestly have no clue what that is, i don't think we have gone over that yet.

i was just assuming this was a gaussian surface of some kind maybe because it's enclosed?

 

[victorializ]

Doesn't the metal can act as a Faraday cage?

i honestly have no clue what that is, i don't think we have gone over that yet.

i was just assuming this was a gaussian surface of some kind maybe because it's enclosed?

 

[hilbert2]

In an electrostatic situation, the electric field inside a conductor material is always zero. Because if there were a nonzero field, electric current would be induced and it would not be a static situation. The same applies if the conducting object is hollow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage