8.3.P10

Pierre was confused about the Debye length. He complained to Marie: "A charge is a charge. Why should putting it into an ionic fluid reduce its effectiveness? Doesn't Coulomb's law always hold?" Marie said she could explain it and that he had to think about entropy. Is she right? How might Marie have explained the Debye length to Pierre? Note: This is an essay question. Your answer will be judged not solely on its correctness, but for its depth, coherence, and clarity. 

Joe Redish 4/20/18