0

I am not a physicist so I am not sure how to check my intuition. Hence my question here.

Suppose I wish to charge a sphere to the maximum extent.

Intuitively I imagine the following:

  1. I can give the sphere an indefinite amount of negative charge by continuing to add electrons indefinitely.

  2. On the other hand I can remove only a finite number of electrons from the sphere and so there is a hard limit on the positive charge that I can generate. (That limit is reached when no electrons remain)

Now I can understand that there may be some limit to the number of electrons that can be added but it is not obvious to me that is has any connection to the number that can be removed.

Question

Is the maximum charge, that a given object can sustain, different according to whether it is a positive or negative charge?

chasly - supports Monica
  • 3,006
  • a macroscopic piece of metal has on the order of $10^{23}$ atoms and the same number of free electrons representing a charge of of $10^4C$, that is an incredible amount of charge. A $1mF$ capacitor biased at $1kV$, if there is creature like that, has only $1C$ charge, so there is a limit before the free-electron free metal explodes in space.... – hyportnex Nov 14 '20 at 02:07

1 Answers1

0

The number of electrons that can be removed or added is negligible when compared with the total number of electrons in the material. The asymmetry you imagine does not exist.

nasu
  • 8,100