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The University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry & Physics Electromagnetism II

The document provides solutions to tutorial problems involving electromagnetism concepts: 1) The lineal charge density for two point charges q at x = ±1 is expressed using the Dirac delta function as λ = q (δ ( x + 1) + δ ( x − 1)). 2) The total charge present for a lineal charge density of ρ ( x) = 1 − x from -1 to 1 is calculated to be the integral of ρ(x), which is 1 Coulomb. 3) The electric flux through a 1m radius sphere and a concentric 2m radius sphere, both centered on a 1C point charge, is calculated to be 1/ε0 using Cou

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250 views

The University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry & Physics Electromagnetism II

The document provides solutions to tutorial problems involving electromagnetism concepts: 1) The lineal charge density for two point charges q at x = ±1 is expressed using the Dirac delta function as λ = q (δ ( x + 1) + δ ( x − 1)). 2) The total charge present for a lineal charge density of ρ ( x) = 1 − x from -1 to 1 is calculated to be the integral of ρ(x), which is 1 Coulomb. 3) The electric flux through a 1m radius sphere and a concentric 2m radius sphere, both centered on a 1C point charge, is calculated to be 1/ε0 using Cou

Uploaded by

gfshhd
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry & Physics

Electromagnetism II
Tutorial 3: solutions

Aug 2014

1) Two point charges q are present on the x-axis at x = 1. Use the Dirac delta function to express
the lineal charge density for this situation. (Hint: you may find it helpful to first ignore one of the
charges, calculate the density, and then bring in the second charge.)
This is just = q ( ( x + 1) + ( x 1)) . (For one charge at x = 1, say, we would just have = q ( x 1) )
2) Consider charge to be distributed along the x-axis such that the lineal charge density is given by
1 x , 1 x 1
. Calculate the total charge present.
( x) =
, otherwise
0

The charge is just the integral of the lineal charge density which in this case is simply q = 1. (Coulombs
are implied!)
3) Consider an isolated point charge of 1C. What is the electric flux that passes through a sphere 1 m
in radius, with the charge at its centre? What then is the flux that passes through a concentric
sphere of 2 m radius? Justify your answer, dont just write down an answer.
The electric field that passes through the sphere is calculated by using Coulombs law for the point charge.
1 q
r , noting that it is a vector and its direction is radially outward at all points, hence the unit
I.e. E =
4 o r 2
vector on the RHS. We need to consider the dot product of the field direction and the vector element of area
da. Because the sphere is a closed convex surface we take da to be directed outward; i.e. it is parallel to r .
So at all points on the surface of the sphere we have E.da = Eda .
By symmetry E is constant over the surface of the sphere; if we sum up all of the Eda to get the flux

E = E da

= E da

where

da

is a symbol to represent the area over which we integrate; i.e. the surface of the whole sphere. So

is simply the surface area of the sphere, 4 r 2 , so

1 q
4 r 2
4 o r 2
1C
=
o

E =

Now if we consider the flux through the 2 m radius sphere, it must be the same, because at a distance 2x
greater, the field must be 4x less. This is compensated exactly by the sphere having 4x the area of the 1 m
radius sphere.
4) A hemispherical shell of radius a has uniformly distributed on it charge Q. What is the force
exerted on a test charge placed at the centre of curvature of the shell?
The hemispherical shell is a solid of revolution about the axis that is labelled with the radius r in the
picture. When we rotate about this axis the angle of rotation is . Well take that vertical axis to be the zaxis, and use spherical polars.
Furthermore the surface charge density is = Q / (2 r 2 ) . The element of charge is the surface charge
density multiplied by the element of area on the spherical shell; i.e. dq = r 2 sin d d

The element of field shown is due to the element of charge dq. It is

dE =

dq
.
4 0 r 2

The part of dE that will survive the superposition of the all of the elements at different and is dEcos.
Thus

E=
=

4 0 r 2
2
4 0

/2

/2

r 2 sin cos d

1
sin 2 d
2
/2

cos 2
4 0 2
0

=
.
4 0
=

In terms of the diagram the field vector is directed downward. This is rather similar to the standard result
that we would get from an infinite flat sheet of charge, to within a factor of 2. But this result does depend
on the total charge on the shell, as we see by expressing in terms of the charge and area;

1 Q
=
.
4 0 2 4 0 r 2
q
1 qQ
=
. This is the magnitude. Its direction
If the test charge is q, the force is then F = qE =
4 0 2 4 0 r 2
depends on the relative signs of q and Q, but will in any case lie along the symmetry axis of the
hemisphere.
E=

5)

Consider a charged disk of radius R that carries a uniform surface charge density .
a.

Show that the electric field a distance z along the axis of the disk is given by


z
E=
1
z .
2 o
R 2 + z 2

Consider a point P on the axis of a disk of area , a distance z above the disk. An element of area is given
by da = r d dr and and element of charge is given by dq = da.

dE has a radial component but it will sum to zero when we add the contributions of the whole disk. Thus
we need only consider dE cos.

By Coulomb's law

1 z da
4 o 2
1
z rdrd
=
4 o r 2 + z 2 3/2

dE cos =

rdr

therefore

E=

1
z
4 o
z
2 o

(r

rdr
2

+ z2

(r

+ z2

3/2

3/2
R

z 1

2 o r 2 + z 2
0


z
1

2 o
R 2 + z 2

and is directed along the axis.


b.

You should also apply sanity checks to your calculations here in particular, look at the
limit of z >> R, and see if in this limit the field tends to a familiar result.

In the limit where z >> R, E =

1 R
1 R 2
=
, which is in the form of Coulomb's law for a

2 o 2 z
4 o z 2

point charge; R 2 is just the total charge on the disk. This latter limit holds also in the case where the
radius of the disk tends to zero. In either of these two limits the disk looks more and more like a point.
(Second, in the limit of small z, the disk should appear to be a sheet of charge; Limz0 E =
does!)

which it
2o

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