Question

A negatively charged solid conducting sphere is surrounded by a net neutral conducting sphere with air between them.
Which of the following is true?


A) There is no electric field inside the metal that makes the neutral sphere.
B) The electric field goes out from around the negative central sphere.
C) If you make a loop around the outside edge of the neutral conducting sphere the net potential difference for one loop is zero.
D) The potential difference across the central conducting sphere is zero.

Answer 1

Hint: A solid conducting sphere has zero electric field inside the conductor and the charges are spread over the surface, also there would be a potential across the conductor along with that the electric field goes away from the positive charge and goes towards the negative charge.

Complete step by step solution:
Step 1: Consider option 2: In option 2 it is written that the electric field goes out from around the negative central sphere. This is not possible because for solid conducting spheres with a negative charge, the direction of the electric field is towards the negative charge.

Step 2: Consider Option 3: In option 3 it is mentioned that if a loop is made around the outside edge of the neutral conducting sphere the net potential difference for one loop is zero. This is false as the sphere inside the neutral conducting charge is negative the outer wall of the neutral conducting sphere will also get negative due to inductance. This is the same case when you bring a negative charge rod near a neutral sphere the wall close to the rod will acquire positive charge and the circular wall away from the rod will be negatively charged.

Step 3: Consider option 4: it is mentioned that the potential difference across the central conducting sphere is zero. Here the central conducting sphere is a solid conducting negatively charged sphere. There would be potential across it as the negative charge is spread over the surface. Option 3 is ruled out.

Step 4: Consider option 1: It is mentioned that there is no electric field inside the metal that makes the neutral sphere. The statement is true as there is no net electric field inside a solid conducting sphere.

Hence, Option (A) is correct. There is no electric field inside the metal that makes the neutral sphere.

Note: Here consider each option first and see if the option mentioned is correct in the given situation if the option is not correct then mentioned an appropriate reason for the option to be incorrect. Also, mention the correct option.