Why Does Charge Flow to Outer Spherical Shell?

AI Thread Summary
When two concentric conducting spherical shells are connected by a wire, charge flows until the potential difference between them is zero. The inner shell, initially charged with +Q, must lose its charge to achieve this equilibrium. If any charge remains on the inner shell, it creates an electric field that results in a potential difference, contradicting the condition for equilibrium. Thus, the entire charge flows to the outer shell, which holds +2Q. This explains why the inner shell ends up with no charge after connection.
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.
 
So I know that electrons are fundamental, there's no 'material' that makes them up, it's like talking about a colour itself rather than a car or a flower. Now protons and neutrons and quarks and whatever other stuff is there fundamentally, I want someone to kind of teach me these, I have a lot of questions that books might not give the answer in the way I understand. Thanks
I am attempting to use a Raman TruScan with a 785 nm laser to read a material for identification purposes. The material causes too much fluorescence and doesn’t not produce a good signal. However another lab is able to produce a good signal consistently using the same Raman model and sample material. What would be the reason for the different results between instruments?
Back
Top