General Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism Spring 2018

Problem Set 2
Due February 14th, 2018

1. A rectangular box shown in the figure has a constant volume charge density of 𝜌. Set up an
integral to calculate the electric field at point 𝑃 (𝑥𝑜 , 𝑦𝑜 , 𝑧𝑜 ). Just leave the answer in the integral
form. No evaluation of the integral is necessary. (Hint: One can assume that 𝑑𝑞 is located at
(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) then 𝑑𝑞 can be expressed in terms of 𝑑𝑥, 𝑑𝑦 and 𝑑𝑧).

2. A sphere centered at the origin has a volume charge density of 𝜌 and a radius of 𝑟1 . The sphere is
centered inside of a thick conducting spherical shell with an inner radius of 𝑟2 and outer radius of
𝑟3 . The spherical shell has a net charge of 𝑄 on it. What is the magnitude and direction of the
electric field at the following distances from the origin:

a) 𝑟 < 𝑟1
b) 𝑟1 < 𝑟 < 𝑟2
c) 𝑟2 < 𝑟 < 𝑟3
d) 𝑟 > 𝑟3
e) Sketch |𝐸⃗ | vs. 𝑟 graph.

3. An infinitely long metal (conductor) cylindrical shell of inner radius 𝑅2 and outer radius 𝑅3 has
no net charge. An infinitely long non-conducting solid cylinder with radius 𝑅1 (𝑅1 < 𝑅2 ) was
put inside the metal shell concentrically (the metal cylindrical shell and the non-conducting solid
cylinder share a common axis). The non-conducting solid cylinder is uniformly charged with a
constant volume charge density 𝜌 (𝜌 > 0).

a) Find the electric field everywhere as a function of 𝑟, where 𝑟 is the perpendicular distance
from the common axis of the cylindrical system. Don’t forget to specify the direction of the
electric field which is a vector.
b) Sketch |𝐸⃗ | vs. 𝑟 graph.
4. Three very large parallel non-conducting planes (infinte planes) have surface charge densities of
𝜎, 2𝜎 and – 𝜎. Planes are distance 𝑑 apart from each other. The origin of the coordinate system
was set on the first plane as shown in the figure. Planes are perpendicular to z axis. Point A is
1/2 𝑑 away from the origin while point B and P are 3/2 𝑑 and 3 𝑑 away from the origin
respectively.

a) Use Gauss’s law, find the electric field due to a single infinite plane with a constant
surface charge density 𝜎 .
b) Calculate electric fields due to three planes at points A, B and P.
c) Find the net force exerted by three planes on a point charge Q located at P.

𝜎 2𝜎 −𝜎

P
O
A B z
z

d d