- #1
student49
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- Homework Statement
- Three fixed point charges of +2 nC, −3 nC and +4 nC are located inside a thin un-
charged metal spherical shell of radius R = 2 cm. Calculate the strength and direction of the electric field at position P, being 10 cm from
the centre of the shell.
Hint
Think Gauss’s Law and carefully consider the conditions within the thickness of the
metal shell and what this tells you about the charge enclosed. Think about concentric
spherical Gaussian surfaces at various radii, and what you can conclude about the net
charge within them. Do NOT simply try and sum up the E~ -fields from the charges,
this does not work here since there is a spherical metal shell in the way.
- Relevant Equations
- E = Q/(4πE0r^2)
E0 is air permittivity
I know that for a conductor the charge is uniformly distributed and the electric field is zero inside the shell. However, I am not sure how to calculate the charge inside the shell so I can know the electric field.