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snipmetal
What happens if we put a
charged object on the surface of that metal, say for example another
electron, so that metal now has a net charge. The electrons in the
near that charge will be repelled leaving a positive region in themetal
which serves to attract that electron and keep it from drifting offinto
space. Now lets add a second electron. You might think that since theof
metal already carries a negative charge, the next electron would be
repelled. It is, as long as the electron is not too near the surface.
By not too near I mean far enough away not to induce a redistribution
the electrons in the metal. However when the electron gets closeenough,
it repels the electrons in the metal just as the first one did, andsurface.
creating a positive region which attracts the second electron. Even
though the metal carries a charge, the induced interaction is
stronger than the coulomb one, and the electron is bound to the
This happens because the Coulomb force falls off as the square of thebeing
distance, so the positive region near charge on the surface has a much
greater influence than the distributed charge further away. Of course
as I add more and more electrons, the coulomb repulsion gets bigger and
bigger, and eventually other things happen.
end of snip
So what I see is the conductor in "tension" but also in equilibrium
acted onthe
by equal and opposite electrostatic forces, external and internal to
conductor.the
This gives an explanation in terms of classical forces and preserves
consequences of Gauss' law.
Brian McInnes