Electrostatic Induction

electrostatic induction

Modification in the distribution of electric charge on one material under the influence of an electric charge on a nearby object. It occurs whenever any object is placed in an electric field. When a negatively charged object is brought near a neutral object, it induces a positive charge on the near side of the object and a negative charge on the far side. If the negative side of the original object is momentarily grounded, the negative charge may escape, so that the object becomes positively charged by induction.

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electrostatic induction [i‚lek·trə′stad·ik in′dək·shən]

(electricity)

The process of charging an object electrically by bringing it near another charged object, then touching it to ground. Also known as induction.

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Induction, Electrostatic 

the induction of electric charges in conductors or dielectrics in a constant electric field.

In conductors, mobile charged particles (electrons) are moved by the action of an external electric field. The movement takes place until the charge is redistributed in such a way that the electric field generated by the charge within the conductor fully compensates the external electric field and the total electric field within the conductor becomes equal to zero. (If this did not occur, an electric current would exist for an infinite time within a conductor placed in a constant electric field, contradicting the law of conservation of energy.) As a result, induced charges of equal magnitude but opposite polarity develop in individual surface regions of the conductor, which is neutral as a whole.

Polarization occurs in dielectrics in a constant electric field; it consists either in a slight displacement of the positive and negative charges to opposite sides within the molecules, which results in the formation of electric dipoles (with an electric moment proportional to the external field), or in partial orientation in the direction of the field of molecules that have an electric moment. In both cases the electric dipole moment of a unit volume of the dielectric attains a nonzero value. Bound charges appear on the surface of the dielectric. If the polarization is nonuniform, bound charges also appear within the dielectric. A polarized dielectric generates an electrostatic field that is added to the external field.

G. IA. MIAKISHEV