Question

The surface of an insulating sphere (A) is charged up uniformly with positive charge, and brought very close to an identical–size conducting sphere (B) that has no net charge on it. The spheres do not make contact.

A) Sketch the distribution of charge on each sphere.
B) Will the spheres attract, repel, or not interact with each other? Explain.
C) When the spheres make contact, they repel each other. Explain this behavior.

Answer 1

A) A negative charge of value Q is induced on sphere B

B) there is an attraction between sphere

C) The charge of sphere A is distributed between the two spheres,

Step-by-step explanation:

This is an electrostatic problem, in general charges of the same sign attract and repel each other.

with this principle let's analyze the different situations

A) The sphere A that is insulating has a charge on its surface and zero charge is its interior

The conducting sphere B has zero charge, but the sphere A creates an attraction in the electrons, therefore a negative charge of the same value as the charge of the sphere A is induced in the part closest and in the part farther away than one that a positive charge.

A negative charge of value Q is induced on sphere B

B) In this case there is an attraction between sphere A with positive charge and sphere B with negative induced charge

C) When the two spheres come into contact, the charge of sphere A is distributed between the two spheres, therefore each one has a positive charge of value half of the initial charge, as now we have net positive charges in the two spheres charges of the same sign repel each other so the spheres separate