Physics 321: Electromagnetism I

Spring 2014

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ID:

Midterm 1
Instructor: Chris Laumann
Time Limit: 50 Minutes

April 25, 2014, 12:30pm

Do not turn this page until the buzzers goes at 12:30.

Hand your exam to me before I leave the room at 1:25.
Please write your name on every page and your student ID on the first page.
This exam contains 6 pages (including this cover page) and 6 problems.
This is a closed book exam. No books, notes or calculators allowed.
Write all your work on these sheets. If you need
more space, you may use the back of the front
page; clearly indicate when you have done this.
Organize your work, in a reasonably neat and
coherent way, in the space provided. Work scattered all over the page without a clear ordering
will receive very little credit.
Mysterious or unsupported answers will
not receive full credit. A correct answer, unsupported by calculations or explanations will
receive no credit; an incorrect answer supported
by substantially correct calculations and explanations will receive partial credit.

Problem Points Score

1

15

12

30

18

Total:

88

Mephistopheles: I must confess, my stepping oer

Thy threshold a slight hindrance doth impede;
The wizard-foot doth me retain.
Faust: The pentagram thy peace doth mar?
To me, thou son of hell, explain,
How camest thou in, if this thine exit bar?
Could such a spirit aught ensnare?
Mephistopheles Observe it well, it is not drawn with care,
One of the angles, that which points without,
Is, as thou seest, not quite closed.
Goethes Faust (1808)

Midterm 1 - Page 2 of 6

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Extra work page. Please indicate clearly which problem your work is
for if you want it graded.

Midterm 1 - Page 3 of 6

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1. (8 points) Write carefully the pair of equations relating (r) and V (r).

2. Suppose the electric field throughout a sphere of radius R is given by E(r) = ar

r + b
x.
(a) (8 points) What is the charge Q contained in the sphere?

(b) (7 points) If b were changed to 2b, how does the charge density within the sphere
change? How is this possible?

3. A cube of side length a centered on the origin contains a charge density (r) = bz.
(a) (5 points) How much charge is in the cube?

(b) (7 points) What is electric field E(r)? Be as explicit as you can about your method
and coordinates. You dont need to evaluate any definite integrals but you need to
setup them up completely.

Midterm 1 - Page 4 of 6

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4. Faust wishes to summon Mephistopheles into his chamber from the netherworld. As
demons are by nature negative, Faust places 5 positive charges q at the points of a
pentagram (regular pentagon, see below) on his floor (the x y plane) at a distance a
from the origin, hoping to attract the beast. Assume one of the points is on the y-axis.
(a) (5 points) Without a calculation, in what direction is the electric field E on the z
axis? What symmetry justifies your answer?

(b) (5 points) What is the potential V (z) on the z-axis?

(c) (5 points) What is the electric field E(z) on the z-axis?

(d) (5 points) Sketch the field lines and equipotentials in the x y plane. Label any
special lines in the plane where you know exactly what direction the field points by
symmetry.
y
q
a

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(e) (5 points) Mephistopheles resides in the underworld directly below Fausts chamber
but very far away at z = L. As physicists, you may treat him as a spherical point
demon with charge Q and mass M . If he begins at rest in the underworld, with what
velocity does Mephistopheles arrive in the center of Fausts pentagram? Assume
that Mephistopheles flies freely subject only to the electrostatic force.

(f) (5 points) Suppose Faust accidentally places the point on the y-axis a little bit
closer to the origin than he intended. Sketch what happens to Mephistopheles
trajectory in the y z plane (no calculation required).

5. (5 points) A pair of conductors carry charge q1 = Q and q2 = Q and potential V1 and

V2 respectively. What is their mutual capacitance?

q 1 , V1

q 2 , V2

Midterm 1 - Page 6 of 6

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6. A spherical capacitor consists of two concentric spherical conducting shells of radii a and
b (b > a) with vacuum in between and outside them. There is +Q charge on the outer
sphere and Q on the inner sphere.
(a) (5 points) Sketch on the figure where the potential is a constant in space.

Q
-Q

(b) (5 points) Now, actually calculate the potential V (r) everywhere in space.

(c) (8 points) Calculate the stored potential energy using two different approaches.