Paper 3, Section II, C

Electromagnetism | Part IB, 2017

(i) Two point charges, of opposite sign and unequal magnitude, are placed at two different locations. Show that the combined electrostatic potential vanishes on a sphere that encloses only the charge of smaller magnitude.

(ii) A grounded, conducting sphere of radius aa is centred at the origin. A point charge qq is located outside the sphere at position vector p\mathbf{p}. Formulate the differential equation and boundary conditions for the electrostatic potential outside the sphere. Using the result of part (i) or otherwise, show that the electric field outside the sphere is identical to that generated (in the absence of any conductors) by the point charge qq and an image charge qq^{\prime} located inside the sphere at position vector p\mathbf{p}^{\prime}, provided that p\mathbf{p}^{\prime} and qq^{\prime} are chosen correctly.

Calculate the magnitude and direction of the force experienced by the charge qq.

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