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Chapter 20: Problem 9

A spherical balloon is initially uncharged. If you spread positive charge uniformly over the balloon's surface, would it expand or contract? What would happen if you spread negative charge instead?

Short Answer

Expert verified
In both cases, whether positive or negative charge is spread over the balloon's surface, it will expand due to the repulsion between same type of charges.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the Fundamental of Charges

The basic principle in electrostatics is that similar charges repel each other, and opposite charges attract. This means that if you have a sphere and are adding the same type of charge in all directions uniformly, the charges will tend to push away from each other.
02

Applying the Principle to a Positive Charge

If positive charges are spread uniformly over the balloon's surface, they would repel each other. This repulsion creates an outward pressure causing the balloon to expand.
03

Applying the Principle to a Negative Charge

The same principle also applies to negative charges. If negative charges are spread uniformly over the balloon's surface, they too would repel each other, causing the balloon to expand.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

A dipole with dipole moment \(1.5 \mathrm{nC} \cdot \mathrm{m}\) is oriented at \(30^{\circ}\) to a 4.0-MN/C electric field. Find (a) the magnitude of the torque on the dipole and (b) the work required to rotate the dipole until it's antiparallel to the field.

Equation 20.3 gives the electric field of a point charge. Does the direction of (a) \hat{r } or (b) \(\vec{E}\) depend on whether the charge is positive or negative?

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