A Spherical Conductor Holds Charge?

📌 CONCEPT: A spherical conductor holds charge uniformly distributed over its surface, behaving as an equipotential surface everywhere inside and outside due to its symmetrical shape and the nature of electrostatic charges.

📐 RULE / FORMULA: The electrostatic potential (V) at the surface of a spherical conductor is given by V = k × q / r, where k is Coulomb's constant, q is the charge, and r is the radius of the sphere.

💡 WORKED EXAMPLE: For a spherical conductor with a charge of 0.5 μC and a radius of 5 cm, we can calculate the electrostatic potential at its surface using the formula: V = (9 × 10^9 N m^2 C^-2) × (0.5 µ C) / (0.05 m) = 9 × 10^5 V.

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE: Students often incorrectly assume that the electrostatic potential inside a spherical conductor is zero, whereas it is actually constant and equal to the potential at the surface due to the equipotential nature of the conductor.