A solid sphere of mass ' M ' and radius ' a ' is surrounded by a uniform concentric spherical shell of thickness 2 a and mass 2 M . The gravitational field at distance ' 3 a ' from the centre will be:
- (A)
- (B)
- (C)
- (D)✓ Correct
Answer: (D)
Solution
The field at a point depends only on the mass lying inside that radius, by the shell theorem. At a distance from the centre the whole solid sphere (mass , radius ) and the whole surrounding shell (mass , outer radius ) are enclosed, so the mass that matters is . Treating it as a point mass at the centre, .
JEE Main · 2019 · 09 Apr 2019 · Shift 1 · Single correct option