Draw a plot showing variation of electric field with distance from the centre of a solid conducting sphere of radius R, having a charge +Q on its surface.
Solution
The charge resides on the surface of the conductor. Inside (r<R) the enclosed charge is zero so E=0. At the surface the field jumps to 4πε01R2Q, and outside (r>R) it behaves like that of a point charge, decreasing as 1/r2.