Practice question · Multiple choice
Why must the electric field vanish inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium?
Hints
- Equilibrium means nothing is moving.
- A field inside a conductor would push its free charges until it was cancelled.
Show the answer
A. Any interior field would drive the free charges, contradicting equilibrium
Why
Equilibrium is defined by charges having stopped. A residual interior field would keep pushing them, so the charges rearrange precisely until they cancel it, which is why the interior field is exactly zero, not merely small.
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