Two charges of values 5μC and 2μC are placed inside and outside of a uncharged conducting shell at a distance of 3 m. The force on 5μC charge will be:
a. 10mN
b. 5mN
c. Zero
d. can't be found
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3 Answers
1The 2μC charge will induce a negative charge on the outer surface of conducting shell, which in turn acquires a positive charge on the inner surface. since the shell is conducting, the total charge gets uniformly distributed over the surface resulting in zero net force on 5μC. (This is the reason for zero electric field inside a conductor)
on the other hand, force acting on 2μC will not be equal to zero. here the 5μC charge will induce a charge of 5μC on the surface of shell. assuming the distance of 2μC from centre of spherical shell to be 3m, force acting on it will be 10-2N = 10mN.
hope it's clear now. :)