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- PHY102 Physics II © Dr.Cem Özdoğan
- Isolated Conductor in an Isolated Electric Field
- If an isolated conductor is placed in an external electric field, all points of the conductor still come to a single potential regardless of whether the conductor has an excess charge.
- The free conduction electrons distribute themselves on the surface in such a way that the electric field they produce at interior points cancels the external electric field that would otherwise be there.
- Furthermore, the electron distribution causes the net electric field at all points on the surface to be perpendicular to the surface.
- If the conductor in Fig. 24-20 could be somehow removed, leaving the surface charges frozen in place, the internal and external electric field would remain absolutely unchanged.
- 24-12 Potential of a Charged Isolated Conductor