| Charged Sphere (conductor): To place a charged sphere, click in the region below the top of the Protractor. The charged sphere properly appears at the height of the Cathode; the mouse click determines the horizontal coordinate. A long stem connects the sphere to the sphere's base. With Select depressed, you can move the sphere along the bottom and resize its stem (clicking on the arrows on the base has no effect). You can place two charged spheres. You can charge a sphere in one of two ways:
By bringing the sphere (not the stem) into contact with the Cathode (for negative charge) or the Anode (for positive charge). These objects charge spheres to full capacity. Consult the figure. By changing the charge in the sphere's Properties Box. |
The red or blue dot on the stem indicates whether the sphere is positively or negatively charged. A charged sphere can exchange charge with a pendulum ball, but not with another charged sphere. The charged spheres also determine the position of the ball through the Coulomb force, which is the subject of this simulator!