What I am confused about is whether the charge of an object is concentrated within the centre of the mass itself, or does it change depending on the situation?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
3
-
1$\begingroup$ Imagine a proton and an electron separated by some distance. The charge of this system is not within its center of mass. $\endgroup$– G. SmithOct 2, 2019 at 5:22
-
1$\begingroup$ Physicists don’t define a center of charge because with both positive and negative charges it doesn’t make sense. See physics.stackexchange.com/questions/8221/… $\endgroup$– G. SmithOct 2, 2019 at 5:30
-
$\begingroup$ Since the center of mass is a point, nothing can be within it. Are you asking whether the center of charge & the center of mass always coincide? $\endgroup$– D. HalseyOct 2, 2019 at 17:55
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
Charge and mass are independent properties of a body. The center of mass and charge of a body depend solely on the way the mass or charge is distributed about the body. If both are distributed in the same way, their centers will coincide.
-
$\begingroup$ What will affect the distribution of charge? $\endgroup$ Oct 2, 2019 at 4:25
-
$\begingroup$ A rod for example may have a linear charge density, this will mean that the center will not be at the middle. Simply bringing a magnet close to a body will also disturb the distribution of charge. $\endgroup$– SamOct 2, 2019 at 4:32