Thread: Statically charged sphere

If we are given a sphere with a constant electrical charge on the outside of it, is it possible to determine if the sphere is hollow or not, and if so, how?

if thats the only information given, is the charge of the shell, then no

What information is needed, then?

how about mass,material & diameter

Providing that there were no rules against discharging the sphere, it would be easy to race it down an inclined plane against a sphere of the same weight known to be of a homogeneous solid construction.

A work-around could be used to avoid disturbing the electrical charge or distorting the test results, but I must be missing something about the problem. I think a hollow ball would lose the race.

I am not so sure the weights need to match if we can ignore air resistance and such second-order ramifications.