•When no net
motion of charge occurs within a conductor, the conductor is said to be in electrostatic
equilibrium
•An isolated
conductor has the following properties:
•The electric field is
zero everywhere inside the conducting
material
•Any excess charge on
an isolated conductor resides entirely
on its surface
•The electric field
just outside a charged conductor is perpendicular
to the conductor’s surface
•On an irregularly
shaped conductor, the charge accumulates
at locations where the radius of curvature of the surface is smallest (that is, at sharp points)