A flight consultant wishes to model the process by which an airplane allows any charge build-up acquired in flight to leak off. She is aware that planes have needle shaped metal extensions on the wings and tail to accomplish this and that the process works, because the electric field around the needle is much larger than around the body of the plane, causing dielectric breakdown of the air and discharging the plane. Her model consists of two conducting spheres connected by a conducting wire. The sphere representing the plane has a radius of 6.00 m, the sphere representing the tip of the needle has a radius of 2.00 cm, and a total charge of 78.0 µC is placed on the combination.
(a) Determine the electric potential (in V) at the surface of each sphere.
(b) Determine the electric field (in V/m) at the surface of each sphere.