(a) Is the magnitude of the electric force between the two conducting spheres in Figure \(22.28 b\) greater or smaller than that obtained from Coulomb's law, which assumes the charge is concentrated at the center of each sphere?

(b) Is the answer to part \(a\) the same if the charge on one of the conductors is negative instead of positive?

Transcribed Image Text:

Figure 22.28 The reason Coulomb's law does not apply in a strict sense to macro- scopic charged objects. The law is approxi- mately correct if the objects are far apart relative to their radii. (a) Charged spheres separated by a distance large compared to the sphere radii 91 92 Distance between centers of charge distributions same as distance between sphere centers (b) Charged spheres separated by a distance small compared to the sphere radii 9 92 Charge repulsion causes distance between centers of charge distributions to differ from distance between sphere centers.