Electric field at a point inside of a uniformly charged ball

In summary, the conversation discusses the amount and direction of the electric field at a distance r from the center of a uniformly charged ball with a constant charge volume density. The solution to this problem can be solved using Gauss law and the argument of symmetry, but the person asking the question may not have taken a course on classical electromagnetics. They are also interested in understanding the reasoning behind the solution.
  • #1
Lushikato
4
0
As the name of the thread says, I am wondering what would the amount and the direction of the electric field at some point in the uniformly charged ball of radius R(it has a constant charge volume density) be at the distance r from the centre of the ball. Does anyone know what would they be? I would also be interested in what is behind that fact(why is it so).

Thanks in advance.

PS. I didn't know where to put this thread so I've put it in the general section, hopefuly I haven't caused a mess by doing it.
 
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  • #2
If you had taken classical electromagnetics course for a while now, you should have encountered problems of this type. Normally, this kind of problem is solved through use of Gauss law. But since you asked this problem, I assume you haven't taken the aforementioned course or haven't gotten far enough in this course to learn about Gauss law. To figure out the direction of the field, you can simply use the argument of symmetry. For solving the magnitude, it's fastest to employ Gauss law using the knowledge of the field direction.
 

Related to Electric field at a point inside of a uniformly charged ball

1. What is an electric field?

An electric field is a physical quantity that describes the influence that a charged object has on other charged objects. It is a vector quantity, meaning it has both magnitude and direction, and is measured in units of Newtons per Coulomb (N/C).

2. How is an electric field calculated?

The electric field at a point inside of a uniformly charged ball can be calculated using the equation E = kQ/r^2, where E is the electric field, k is Coulomb's constant (9 x 10^9 Nm^2/C^2), Q is the charge of the ball, and r is the distance from the center of the ball to the point in question.

3. What is a uniformly charged ball?

A uniformly charged ball is an object that has a constant charge distribution throughout its entire volume. This means that the charge is evenly spread out and there are no areas of higher or lower charge density.

4. What is the direction of the electric field inside a uniformly charged ball?

The electric field inside a uniformly charged ball is radially directed, meaning it points directly away from or towards the center of the ball. The direction of the field at any point inside the ball is determined by the direction of the force that a positive test charge would experience if placed at that point.

5. Can the electric field inside a uniformly charged ball be zero?

Yes, the electric field inside a uniformly charged ball can be zero at the center of the ball. This is because the electric field is dependent on the distance from the center of the ball, and at the center, the distance is zero. However, the field will never be zero at any other point inside the ball.

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