Why Does Charge Flow to Outer Spherical 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 · 3K views
Highwaydude
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
So there are two concentric conducting spherical shells one with radius R and another 2R with charge +Q and +2Q respectively... Now the two are connected by a conducting wire. Why does the entire charge flow to the outer shell?

Please clarify my doubts. I will be grateful.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Once you connect the two spheres with the wire, current will flow until the potential difference between the spheres is zero. To achieve this, it's necessary the inner sphere hold no charge. If there were some charge left on the inner sphere after connecting it to the wire, there would be an electric field in the region between the two spheres. Upon integrating such a field in this region, we would end up with a potential difference, a contradiction with the original idea.
 
oooh, i get it... yea! thank you very much.