Question

Explain the process of electrostatic induction.

Answer 1

Whenever a charged rod is touched by another conductor, charges start to flow from charged rod to the conductor. This type of charging without actual contact is called electrostatic induction:

1. Consider an uncharged (neutral) conducting sphere at rest on an insulating stand. Suppose a negatively charged rod is brought near the conductor without touching it, as shown in figure (a). The negative charge of the rod repels the electrons in the conductor to the opposite side.
   (a)
   
   (b)
   
   (c)
   
   (d)
   
   Various steps in electrostatic induction
   As a result, positive charges are induced near the region of the charged rod while negative charges on the farther side. Before introducing the charged rod, the free electrons were distributed uniformly on the surface of the conductor and the net charge is zero. Once the charged rod is brought near the conductor, the distribution is no longer uniform with more electrons located on the farther side of the rod and positive charges are located closer to the rod. But the total charge is zero.
2. Now the conducting sphere is connected to the ground through a conducting wire. This is called grounding. Since the ground can always receive any amount of electrons, grounding removes the electron from the conducting sphere. Note that positive charges will not flow to the ground because they are attracted by the negative charges of the rod (figure (b)).
3. When the grounding wire is removed from the conductor, the positive charges remain near the charged rod (figure (c)).
4. Now the charged rod is taken away from the conductor. As soon as the charged rod is removed, the positive charge gets distributed uniformly on the surface of the conductor (figure (d)). By this process, the neutral conducting sphere becomes positively charged.