ON THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITATIONAL-FIELDS ON THE ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES OF MATTER

A discussion of the electrical state of a conducting solid in a static gravitational field is presented. The analysis of the stress-gravitat ional force balance inside the solid is complicated; however, outside the solid, in the evanescent electron field, the analysis of such a ba lance simplifies greatly. As a consequence of this external analysis, an expression for the electric field external to the body is presented which includes the direct effect of gravity on the electrons, as well as the indirect effect due to the stress induced by the action of gra vity on the bulk solid. Such fields are an important determinant of th e gravitational motion of charged particles within metallic shields.