Assignment II

Electricity and Magnetism

5 August 2016
1. Use Gauss's law to find the electric field inside and outside a spherical shell of radius
R, which carries a uniform surface charge density .

2. Use Gauss's law to find the electric field inside a uniformly charged sphere (charge
density ).

3. Find the electric field a distance s from an infinitely long straight wire, which carries a
uniform line charge .

4. Find the electric field inside a sphere which carries a charge density proportional to
the distance from the origin,  = kr, for some constant k. [Hint: This charge density is
not uniform, and you must integrate to get the enclosed charge.]

5. A hollow spherical shell carries charge density in the region

(shown in figure). Find the electric field in the three regions:
. Plot |E| as a function of .

6. A long coaxial cable (Figure) carries a uniform volume charge density  on the inner
cylinder (radius ), and a uniform surface charge density on the outer cylindrical shell
(radius ). This surface charge is negative and of just the right magnitude so that the
cable as a whole is electrically neutral. Find the electric field in each of the three
regions: (i) inside the inner cylinder , (ii) between the cylinders
, (iii) outside the cable . Plot |E| as a function of .
7. An infinite plane slab, of thickness , carries a uniform volume charge density 
(Figure). Find the electric field, as a function of , where at the center. Plot
versus , calling positive when it points in the +v direction and negative when it
points in the direction.

8. Two spheres, each of radius R and carrying uniform charge densities + and — ,
respectively, are placed so that they partially overlap (Figure). Call the vector from the
positive center to the negative center . Show that the field in the region of overlap is
constant, and find its value. [Hint: Use the answer to Problem 2]

9. One of these is an impossible electrostatic field. Which one?

(a) ̂ ̂ ̂
(b) ̂ ̂ ̂
Here k is a constant with the appropriate units. For the possible one, find the potential,
using the origin as your reference point. Check your answer by computing . [Hint:
You must select a specific path to integrate along. It doesn't matter what path you
choose, since the answer is path-independent, but you simply cannot integrate unless
you have a particular path in mind.]