SECTION : Charging by Induction  

NOTE: You must be connected to the Internet the first time you view this simulation, at which point the codebase for all the simulations will be downloaded to your computer. This process make take a few minutes, as the codebase is roughly 9MB in size. Subsequent viewings of the applets will run from your local copy.

This java simulation illustrates the electric field due to a free charge near an isolated conducting spherical shell with zero charge. The free charge can be inside or outside the shell. We show the charges induced on the surfaces of the shell that keep the electric field in the conductor zero. We also give the user a choice between showing the total field (that is the field due to the free charge and the induced charges), or the field due to the free charge alone, or the charge due to the induced charges alone.

Thanks to Professor Craig Ogilvie of Iowa State University for suggesting the idea for this simulation.