Adam §. Bolton February 15, 2002 bolton@mit.edu MIT 8.02 Spring 2002 Assignment #1 Solutions Problem 1.1 Relative strengths of gravitational and electrostatic forces. Q Q a a -}———— «5 The dust grains have diameter 50 jam, and thus have a radius @ = 25 pm = 2.5 x 10-* m, ‘They have mass density p = 2.5 gm/cm’ = 2.5 x 103 kg/m? and charge Q = —ne (e being ‘the magnitude of the electron’s charge). The mass of each grain is then 4 ma aiee= 1.6 x 107" kg, ‘The gravitational attraction is ‘The electrostatic repulsion is Free ‘There would be no net force if Fe = Fa, ie. /areG™ ~0.09<1 . ‘Thus a mere single extra electron on each grain would prevent the grains from colliding. For comparison, each grain contains m/my = (1.6 x 107'°)/(1.67 x 10-77) = 10°7 nucleons {protons + neutrons). For a neutral grain, we have one electron for each proton, or one for every two nucleons, if # protons = # neutrons. Thus the total number of electrons is = 5x 109MIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions 2 Problem 1.2 Electric feld along the line passing through tro point changes. (Note: In these solutions, as in the text, we will always denote vector quantities such as the electric field by boldface font: E. In lectures, and probably in your own handwritten work, vectors are more commonly written with an arrow over the top: B.) Oe +3HC OF -7TUC x 0 04m (a) Let us first determine the electric field due to Q; alone. From the expression for the electric field due to a point charge, 1 Be area 1 If we are at position a on the a-axis, r= a9, r= Va? and # = r/|r| = (a/|ar|)#, and Note that B, is in the # direction for 2 > 0 and in the ‘expect, since the charge is located at x —0. Similarly, Qa z-04 Gey fe — 0.4 {variables always moasured in SI units unless otherwise noted). Note that E, changes diree- tion depending on whether we are to the loft or right of the charge at = 0.4 m. The total Bis the sum of E; and Ey: # direction for x < 0, as we would BE, os Fog x A é trey [eS Te 048 ‘This expression is good for —oo < x < 00, but it is worthwhile writing it out as follows: tors { (8/22 +7/(@-04))% ocr 0, we can write this as Bla) — _ xg) |1-_/R_| (Q/4aegR?) lt e/RP. ‘We use this expression for the plot on the following page.MIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions E Gnunits of Q/4neR? o os 1 15 2 35 3 35 4 z (in units of R (c) We can understand the shape of this curve for small and large = by using a Taylor series expansion. From Giancoli Appendix A-3, foy= s+ 2) aaa Let’s expand (1+u)" about u = 0 using this formalism. First, d \n yim llth ntl uy, so that eu)" = sup + nl+ ur ude Linus ‘This is the binomial expansion of Giancoli Appendix A-2. It is a good approximation as Tong as u is < 1. For case {i), 2? < R?, we have _; @ _ ofR Be) 25 [ f+ Gir 1 = (1/2)(2/R)? from above, s0 H(z) but (1+ (2/Ryy"? sega LL G8) (1- 0//89)] 2) Q 2 eR ' Ele pe 2 > R?, we have Q 1 but (1+ (2/22) = 1 — (1/2)(R/2)? for (8/2) «1, and Ez) = Bis) 22 = pli (i- aes) BQ) = oa 5 2>R (d) Clearly ihe above case {ii) expression looks like Coulomb's law for a point charge Q. (e) If we are very close to the disk {z < R), it looks like an infinite plane with surface charge density 2. ‘The field due to an infinite plane has the same magnitude above and below the plane, but with opposite directions (see diagram below). Applying Gauss's law to the pillbox shown below, we have fEdd = Qena/eo EA+EA = cAfg => E=o/2 - (We grudgingly adopt the convenient but somewhat abstract notation dA, to be consistent with Giancoli. We would prefer to use the more intuitive notation dS.) Since o = Q/7R”, this expression is exactly as in c(i) above. area A a E dAMIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions 8 Problem 1.5 Electric Dipole. (Giancoli 21-65.) -Q|+9 1/2) 12 r Let the charges be located on the z-axis, with the positive charge (+@) at «= 1/2 and the negative charge (—@) at a = —1/2, as shown in the diagram above. From the expression for the electric field due to a point charge, the electri field on the x-axis at x =r (> 0) due to the positive charge is 1 GQ) , + tees (F172) and the electric field there due to the negative charge is 1 _@ , ~~ Frey (1/2 The total electric field is 1, — ere D/2 Region I: -D/2<2< D/2 Region Il: 2<-D/2 . ‘The best way to approach this problem is to make use of the superposition principle and symmetry arguments, i.e, to calculate the electric field Bugg; of the sheet of change alone, then to calculate the electric field Eygp of the slab of charge alone, and then to add yectorially the results. From above, we have ° 20 Region I: Eye: =+22-2 (independent of 2) Region TT & TIT: Biss = What about Eas? Consider the fol- area A E da lowing Gaussian pillbox: the top is a = distance z > D/2 above the z = 0 A plane, and the bottom is the same I distance below the z = 0 plane. By z>DI2 symmetry, the electric field on the | top of the pillbox has exactly the = | 2 bo same magnitude, but is oppositely rected from the F field on the bottom of the pillbox. The charge @ enclosed by the pillbox is pDA, so JP -th=— del reMIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions 10 becomes 264 = pDA/eo, or E = pD/2ey, independent of 2. area A E ds ‘That gives us the field outside the slab, but what about inside? Co sider a pillbox similar to the previ- ous, except now 2 < D/2. The total height of this pillbox is 22, so that the charge contained inside is now (22)A, and Ey ‘Ga fb dA =Qeafér => 2BA=2pAlen - Notice that again we used a symmetry argument by carefully choosing the pillbox to have top and bottom the same distance from z = 0. Thus inside the slab, E = pz/eg. This depends on 2, as it should! For the slab, then, Region I Region II: Region I : Tn summary, we have (a) Region 1 (2 > D/2) : (c) Region I (—D/2 <2 < D/2) : (b) Region III (z < —D/2) : EMIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions u (d) It is instructive to plot Baye: and Bug, separately (remembering that 7 <0). Iol/2e | (Este 2 : ~Tol/2ey Baw 3h pbine, —pD2é, ‘Together, they look like this (assuming pD > |a|): E, -D (pD+6)/2e, a HLisnony z ~ (pPD+6)/26, Note that the field across this and any shoot of charge is discontinuous, with a jump of magnitude o/e9. Problem 1.7 ‘Two spherical charged shells. {Ciancoli 22-21.) From the symmetry of the system, we may con- clude that the electric field is entirely in the radial direction, and is a function of r alone. We take as a Gaussian surface a spherical shell concentric with the charged shells, and with radius r in the region within which we wish to determine the electric field. Gauss’s law gives, fB-dA = Qeas/ea a4 E = Qoaci/eoMIT 8.02 Spring 2002 — Assignment #1 Solutions 12 (a) In the region where r- 72, Qooei = 4 (ro, + roa), giving _ (rio. + re: er (d) We will have E = 0 for r > ry if r}o, = —r}oa. This amounts to having equal and ‘opposite charges on the two shells. E (ec) E=0 for r: Ri,Ro, we may model the system as be- ing of infinite longth to a good approximation. We thon conclude from the symmetry of the system that the electric field is directed radially outward, perpen- dicular to the axis of the cylinders, and is a function only of the perpendicular distance r from the axis. To apply Gauss’s law, we consider a cylindrical surface coaxial with the charged shells and of length h < L, with radius r in the region in which we wish to de- termine the electric field (see diagram at right). Bis {approximately) perpendicular to the endeaps, so the only contribution to the flux integral comes from the sides of the Gaussian cylinder. Gauss’s law gives fB-dA = Qone/eo— 200HE = Quoa/ea » {a) For r < Ri, Qena = 0 and we conclude that E =0 in this region. (b) For Ry Ro, Qenei = (+@ — Q)h/L = 0, giving B = 0. (d) The electron will experience an inwandly-directed electrostatic force with magnitude given by eQ meg L{R; + Ro) ‘This force will provide the centripetal acceleration for the maintenance of the circular orbit, 80 that FoeE= mgt? me (Ri + Be)/2 * Equating these two expressions for F and cocalling that kinetic energy is given by (KE) = mv?/2, we obtain F = Mee = END