''in a static situation, the electric field at the surface of a conductor can have no component parallel to the surface because this would violate the condition that the charges on the surface are at rest. '' would this same statement be valid for the electric field at the surface of an insulator?explain why answer and the reason for any differences between the cases of a conductor and an insulator.
2007-08-03 15:53:26 · 2 answers · asked by DiMaHaZiaF 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The statement is true for a conductor in statics because if there were an electric field then the charges would move and the situation would not be static. For an insulator there are no free charges to move, so there is no requirement that the parallel electric field be zero. Things will be static either way for an insulator.
2007-08-03 17:09:10 · answer #1 · answered by pegminer 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Ideally, an insulator would have no electric field. In reality it does, and since it can be considered a poor conductor, the statement would hold true.
2007-08-03 16:00:10 · answer #2 · answered by cattbarf 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋