Electrostatic rotation of spherical conductors

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering University of California - Riverside, CA 92521, USA

Corresponding author: wistrom@engr.ucr.edu

Received: 16 October 2001
Accepted: 14 May 2002

Abstract

Electrostatic rotation is observed in experiments that comprise three conducting spheres fixed in space and held at constant electrical potential. Theory predicts that rotation is due to a constant torque acting on an asymmetric distribution of charge as a direct consequence of the Coulomb force and Gauss' law of electric potential. We propose that rotation is likely to be general and apply to systems of all size scales where the electrostatic force is the dominant operative force. This would include systems ranging in size from molecular to macroscopic and be relevant to manufacturing new materials with complex microstructures.