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Q4. We have been considering the electric fields created by point charges. A point has no volume, and so any real object is not a point charge. Under what conditions can considering a charged object to be a point charge be a good approximation?

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Answer #1

This is only true if the sphere is isolated from everything else

When the charge distribution is spherically symmetric, the field outside the charged object is exactly that of a point charge at the center of that object. (Where the charge of the point charge equals the total charge of the object.)

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