Jackson 1.

1 Homework Problem Solution

Dr. Christopher S. Baird
University of Massachusetts Lowell
PROBLEM:
Use Gauss's theorem
S
Enda=
q

0
and

Ed l=0 to prove the followin!

a" #ny e$cess chare placed on a conductor must lie entirely on its surface. %# conductor &y definition
contains chares capa&le of movin freely under the action of applied electric fields."
&" # closed' hollow conductor shields its interior from fields due to chares outside' &ut does not shield
its e$terior from fields due to chares placed inside it.
c" (he electric field at the surface of the conductor is normal to the surface and has a manitude
/
0
'
where is the chare density per unit area on the surface.
SOLUTO!:
a" )irst' the pro&lem contains the unstated assumption that what is wanted is the location of the chares
in static equilibrium. (his assumption is valid &ecause this pro&lem is found in the chapter on
electrostatics. Static e*uili&rium %the lac+ of movement" can only e$ist when free chares are present if
there are no electric fields. Therefore the electric field inside a conductor is zero. ,ne can draw any
ar&itrary' closed surface completely inside the conductor and it will always have -ero electric field at
every point on the surface. (he interal of the electric field over this surface is -ero and &y Gauss's law'
the total chare is therefore -ero. Because the surface is ar&itrary' it can &e chosen to &e infinitesimally
small or &e chosen to o throuh any point in the conductor's interior. (herefore every point inside a
conductor has -ero chare' and all the chare must then reside on the surface.
&" #ssume for the moment that the electric field e$ternal to the conductor is perpendicular to the
conductor's surface at the surface %the proof is left to part c". Because the conductor is hollow' the
interior reion of the conductor has &y definition no free chares. .f we choose a closed mathematical
surface /ust inside and parallel to the inner surface of the hollow conductor' it therefore contains a total
chare of -ero. Gauss's Law then &ecomes!

S
Enda=0
Because the mathematical surface of the interal is parallel to the surface of the conductor' and the
electric field is perpendicular to the surface of the conductor' the electric field must &e parallel to the
normal!

(his simplifies Gauss's law to!

S
E da=0
(he manitude of a vector' in this case E' is always positive. (here is no way to et the interal of a
permanently positive function to e*ual -ero e$cept if the function itself is -ero at every point. (hus the
electric field is -ero at every point on the mathematical surface. (he surface can &e chosen to show that
all points in the hollow reion have -ero electric fields.
#nother way of provin this is to consider a hollow conductor with no chares e$ternal to it. #ccordin
to part a' there are no electric fields in the hollow reion. 0ow &rin chares in from infinity and place
them /ust e$ternal to the conductor. (heir electric fields can never penetrate the interior of the
conductor accordin to part a' and thus can never reach the hollow reion &eyond the conductin shell.
(he fields in the hollow reion remain -ero. 0ote' this is true only for perfect conductors. .n practice' if
a conductor is thin enouh and non1perfect enouh' the fields actually do penetrate throuh a
conductin shell.
,n the other hand' a chare inside the hollow reion of a closed conductor induces a chare on the
conductor that creates an e$ternal field. .f the chare free reion is now the infinite reion e$ternal to
the conductor' we can never draw a closed surface around infinity' and can thus never use Gauss's law
to prove there is -ero field.
#nother way of doin this is to draw a Gaussian interation surface outside and around the entire
conductor. (he surface now encloses the internal chares and &y Gauss's law there must therefore &e
non1-ero fields outside the conductor.
c" .nside the conductor there are no electric fields. ,utside the conductor' there are no free chares' and
therefore there can &e electric fields. 2hat happens at the surface of the conductor3 .f there is a
component of the electric field tanential to the conductor's surface' it would accelerate chares alon
the surface' and there would &e no static e*uili&rium. (here is therefore no tanential component' and
electric fields are always normal to the conductor's surface.
Draw a pill&o$ surface half1in and half1out of the surface of the conductor and let us interate the
electric field over the surface. (here is no electric field tanential to the conductor's surface' thus the
sides of the pill&o$ contri&utes nothin to the interal. #lso' the electric field is -ero inside the
E
n
conductor' thus the &ottom of the pill&o$ contri&utes nothin to the interal. #ll that is left is the top of
the pill&o$. .f the pill&o$ is small enouh' the surface normal of its top and the electric field are parallel
so that Gauss's law &ecomes!

top
E da=
q

0
where q is the chare contained inside the pill&o$. 0ow shrin+ the pill&o$ until it is infinitesimally
small. (he electric field is constant over an infinitesimally small surface and can &e ta+en out of the
interal' so that the interal is evaluated to /ust &e the total area of the pill&o$ top!
E A
top
=
q

0
4earranin!
E=
q
A
top
5

0
Define as the chare per unit area
q/ A
top
and the e*uation &ecomes!
E=