Properties of Conductor

Due to abundance of free electrons, conductors have following properties.

(i) Any charge given to a conductor resides on its surface.

(ii) As a result of (i) from Gauss’s law the Electric field at any point inside a conductor is zero.

(iii) Potential gradient will also be zero. Thus the potential inside a conductor and on its surface has a constant value.

(iv) Electric lines of force are absent inside a conductor as electric field is zero here. Out side the conductor these lines are normal to the surface of conductor as the charged conducting surface is equipotential.

Note: These properties are valid only under electrostatic conditions (The charges are stationary).