Shielding: The electric field inside conductors
Shielding: The electric field inside conductors This section examines how, in any electric field at all, people can make a little safe haven a region of zero electric field with only the aid of a hollow conductor! Figure 3-8 shows an internal cross-section of a spherical conducting ball. Say that some charges were planted inside the solid metal ball. Now, electric charges always generate an electric field, and conducting materials let charges flow freely in response to electric field, so what happens? Figure 3-8: Charges inside a conductor. The electric field generated by the charges implanted in the conducting material push other, similar charges away. Getting the lowdown on electric potential If you have a mass in a gravitational field, it has potential energy. As you throw a ball upward, for example, the kinetic energy of its motion is converted to gravitational potential energy as it reaches its peak, and then the potential energy changes back to kinetic energy as the ba...