Electricity and Magnetism - Homework Assigment 1

Alejandro Gomez Espinosa

September 14, 2012
Jackson, 1.4 Each of three charged spheres of radius a, one conducting, one having uni-
form charge density within its volume, and one having a spherically symmetric charge
density that varies radially as r
n
(n > 3), has a total charge Q. Use Gausss theorem
to obtain the electric elds both inside and outside each sphere. Sketch the behavior
of the elds as function of radius for the rst two spheres, and for the third with
n = 2, +2.
(a) In the case of a conducting sphere, the charge resides in the surface. Then, the
electric eld inside the sphere, i.e. r < a, is zero.
Outside the sphere, we can use Gausss Law:
_
S
E n da =
Q
enc

0
Lets imaging an spherical gaussian surface of radii r, the charge inside will be
Q:
4r
2
|E| r =
Q
enc

0
E =
Q
4
0
r
2
r
(b) Outside the sphere, the electric eld must be as (a). For the eld inside the
sphere, we have to calculate the charge density:
Q
enc
=
_
V
dx
3
=
_
2
0
_

0
_
a
0
r
2
sin dr d d =
4
3
a
3
=
3Q
4a
3
Using Gausss Law:
4r
2
|E| r =
1

0
_
r
0
3Q
4a
3
4r
2
dr =
Qr
3

0
a
3
Then, the electric eld is:
E =
Qr
3
4
0
r
2
a
3
r =
Qr
4
0
a
3
r
(c) In the case of the spherically symmetric charge density that varies as r
n
, we
perform similar to (b):
Q =
_
V
r
n
dx
3
= 4
_
a
0
r
n+2
dr =
4a
n+3
n + 2
=
Q(n + 2)
4a
n+3

gomez@physics.rutgers.edu
1
Figure 1: Sketching the behavior of the elds of exercise 1.4.
Using Gausss Law:
4r
2
E r =
Q(n + 2)
4a
n+3
_
r
0
4r
n+2
dr =
Q

0
_
r
a
_
n+3
Finally, solving for E:
E =
Q
4
0
r
2
_
r
a
_
n+3
r
(d) The behavior is sketched in Figure 1 .
2
Jackson, 1.5 The time-averaged potential of a neutral hydrogen atom is given by
=
q
4
0
e
r
r
_
1 +
r
2
_
where q is the magnitude of the electronic charge, and
1
= a
0
/2, a
0
being Bohr
radius. Find the distribution of charge (both continuous and discrete) that will give
this potential and interpret your result physically.
We have to use the Poissons equation:

2
=

0
==
0

But Laplacian in spherical coordinates, using only the radial part is:

2
=
1
r
2

r
_
r
2

r
_
Rearranging the potential as:
=
q
4
0
e
r
_
1
r
+ 2
_
Then, lets build this Laplacian:

r
= e
r
_
1
r
+

2
_
+ e
r

r
_
1
r
_

r
_
r
2

r
_
=

r
_
e
r
_
r +
r
2

2
_
+ e
r
r
2

r
_
1
r
__
=
2
e
r
r e
r
+

3
r
2
e
r
2

2
re
r
r
2
e
r
1
r
2
+ e
r

r
_
r
2

r
_
1
r
__
=

3
r
2
e
r
2
+ e
r

r
_
r
2

r
_
1
r
__
=

3
r
2
e
r
2
4e
r

3
(r)
=

3
r
2
e
r
2
4
3
(r)
1
r
2

r
_
r
2

r
_
=

3
e
r
2

4
r
2

3
(r)

2
=
q
4
0
_

3
e
r
2

4
r
2

3
(r)
_
Finally, the distribution of charge is:
=
q
4
_
4
r
2

3
(r)

3
e
r
2
_
The physical meaning is that the delta function represents the charge due to the
positive nucleus, while the second term represents the negative charge of the hydrogen
nucleus.
3
Jackson, 1.6 A simple capacitor is a device formed by two insulated conductors adjacent
to each other. If equal and opposite charges are placed on the conductors, there will
be a certain dierence of potential between them. The ratio of the magnitude of
the charge on one conductor to the magnitude of the potential dierence is called
capacitance (in SI unit it is measured in farads). Using Gausss law, calculate the
capacitance of
(a) two, large, at, conducting sheets of area A, separated by a small distance d;
(b) two concentric conducting spheres with radii a, b(b > a);
(c) two concentric conducting cylinders of length L, large compared to their radii
a, b(b > a).
(d) What is the inner diameter of the outer conductor in an air-lled coaxial ca-
ble whose center conductor is a cylindrical wire of diameter 1 mm and whose
capacitance is 3 10
11
F/m? 3 10
12
F/m?
To solve this problem we have to use Gausss Law to nd the electric eld in the
capacitor. Once we nd E, we can can nd the potential dierence V with the
formula:
V =
_
a
b
E dl
and nally, the capacitance is C = Q/V .
(a) If we consider one of the sheets carrying charge +Q and the other Q, we
can imagine the direction of the electric eld inside the capacitor. Due to the
incoming and outgoing line elds, the electric eld outside these sheets is zero.
Considering a gaussian surface in one of the sheets with area A, we can nd
E = Q/A
0
. Then, the potential dierence is
V =
_
0
d
E dl =
_
0
d
Q
A
0
dl =
Qd
A
0
And the capacitance:
C =
A
0
d
(b) For a two concentric conducting spheres, we do not have charge density inside
the inner sphere and outside the outer sphere. Having only charge density in
the area between the spheres, the electric eld is E = Q/(4r
2

0
) r. We can
calculate the potential dierence:
V =
_
a
b
Q
4r
2

0
dr =
Q
4
0
_
1
a

1
b
_
and the capacitance:
C =
4
0
_
1
a

1
b
_
(c) The electric eld in this case is E = Q/(2
0
rL). Then,
V =
_
a
b
Q
2rL
0
dr =
Q
2L
0
ln
_
a
b
_
C =
2L
0
ln
_
b
a
_
4
(d) Lets solve the last equation for b:
b = a exp
_
2
0
C/L
_
b = (0.0005 m) exp
_
2(8.85 10
12
F/m)
3 10
11
F/m
_
= 0.00639m
b = (0.0005 m) exp
_
2(8.85 10
12
F/m)
3 10
12
F/m
_
= 113km
5
Jackson, 1.9 Calculate the attractive force between conductors in the parallel plate capac-
itor (Problem 1.6a) and the parallel cylinder capacitor (Problem 1.7) for
(a) xed charges on each conductor;
(b) xed potential dierence between conductors.
(a) To calculate the force between conductors, we can use F = QE. In the case
of the parallel plate capacitor, we have already calculated it in Problem 1.6(a).
The electric eld due to the parallel plate capacitor is E = Q/(2A
0
). The
attractive force is:
F =
Q
2
2A
0
For the parallel cylinder capacitor, we can use Gausss Law with a gaussian
cylinder of radius r and length L:
_
S
Edl =
Q

0
E2rL =
Q

0
E =
Q
2
o
Lr
F = EQ =
Q
2
2
0
Lr
(b) In the case of the parallel cylinder capacitor, we have found the potential dier-
ence V in Problem 1.6(a): V = Qd/
0
A. Then:
Q =
V A
0
d
Replacing in the previous equation for our capacitor:
F =
V
2
A
0
2d
2
On the other hand, in the case of the parallel cylinder recalling the Problem 1.7:
C

0
ln(d/a)
But we know that V = Q/C, then:
V =
Q

0
ln
_
d
a
_
Q =
0
V ln
_
a
d
_
Finally, replacing Q in the previous equation:
F =
Q
2
2
0
Ld
=

0
V
2
2Ld
_
ln
_
a
d
__
2
6
Jackson, 1.14 Consider the electrostatic Green functions of Section 1.10 for Dirichlet
and Neumann boundary conditions on the surface S bounding the volume V. Apply
Greens theorem with integration variable y and = G(x, y), = G(x

, y), with

2
y
G(z, y) = 4(y z). Find an expression for the dierence [G(x, x

) G(x

, x)]
in terms of an integral over the boundary surface S.
(a) For Dirichlet boundary conditions on the potential and the associated boundary
condition on the Green function, show that G
D
(x, x

) must be symmetric in x
and x

.
(b) For Neumann boundary conditions, use the boundary condition (1.45) for F
N
(x, x

)
F(x) is symmetric in x and x

, where
F(x) =
1
S
_
S
G
N
(x, y)da
y
(c) Show that the addition of F(x) to the Green function does not aect the potential
(x). See problem 3.26 for an example of the Neumann Green function.
For the rst part of the exercise, we use the Green function:
_
V
(
2

2
)d
3
y =
_
S
_

n
_
da
y
Using the denitions for and :
_
V
(G(x, y)
2
G(x

, y)G(x

, y)
2
G(x, y))d
3
y =
_
S
_
G(x, y)
G(x

, y)
n
G(x

, y)
G(x, y)
n
_
da
y

_
V
4(yx

)G(x, y)d
3
y+
_
V
4(yx)G(x

, y)d
3
y =
_
S
_
G(x, y)
G(x

, y)
n
G(x

, y)
G(x, y)
n
_
da
y
G(x

, y) + G(x, y) =
1
4
_
S
_
G(x, y)
G(x

, y)
n
G(x

, y)
G(x, y)
n
_
da
y
(a) The Dirichlet boundary conditions is: G
D
(x, x

) = 0 for x

on S. Replacing this
condition in the right part of the last equation, we found:
G(x, x

) G(x

, x) = 0
when y = x

. Then: G(x, x

) = G(x

, x), that tell us that G

D
(x, x

) is symmetric.
(b) From (1.45), the simplest allowable boundary condition on G
N
, for x

on S, is:
G
N
n

(x, x

) =
4
S
Replacing this condition in the equation above:
G(x, x

) G(x

, x) =
1
S
_
S
G(x, y)da
y
+
1
S
_
S
G(x

, y)da
y
G(x, x

) G(x

, x) = F(x) F(x

)
If we rearrange this relation: G(x, x

) F(x) = G(x

, x) F(x

), we can see that

the combination G(x, x

) F(x) is symmetric in x and x

.
7
(c) Using equation 1.46 with G
N
= F(x):
(x) =
1
4
0
_
V
(x

)F(x)d
3
x

+
1
4
_
S

F(x)da

=
F(x)
4
_
1

0
_
V
(x

)d
3
x

+
_
S

da

_
=
F(x)
4
_
1

0
_
V
(x

)d
3
x

+
_
S
nda

_
=
F(x)
4
_
1

0
_
V
(x

)d
3
x

_
S
E nda

_
The last part of this equation is clearly Gausss Law, Then (x) = 0. It tells
us that an additional function does not aect the potential (x).
8