UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA

Department of Physics
Physics 210A Winter 2016
Prof. Gary Horowitz Grader: David Kealhofer
Solution Set #6

1a) A similar problem is discussed in Zangwill, that of the potential due to a point charge
outside a grounded conducting sphere. In that case the image charge is placed inside
the region where the sphere is; in our case, the image charge is placed outside the
sphere. The configuration of charges is identical to his, with image and actual charges
swapped. Place the sphere with its center at the origin, and call the radius a. We are
free to place the point charge q wherever we like. For convenience’s sake, place it on
the z-axis at a distance d from the center, i.e. at ~x = dẑ. We place an image charge
of charge q 0 = −(a/d)q at ~x0 = (a2 /d)ẑ, so the potential inside the sphere is the sum
of the contributions from each:

q0
 
1 q
φ< (~r) = +
4π0 |~r − ~x| |~r − ~x0 |
 
1 q (a/d)q
= − 2 .
4π0 (r2 + d2 − 2rd cos θ)1/2 (r + (a4 /d2 ) − 2r(a2 /d) cos θ)1/2

The potential on the surface (~r = ar̂) is evidently zero. (One can arrive at this choice
of image charge configuration from this last requirement, as Zangwill does.)

1b) The surface charge density on the conductor’s inner surface is


∂φ 
σ(θ, φ) = σ(θ) = 0 
∂r r=a
q (a2 − d2 )
=−
4πa (a2 + d2 − 2ad cos θ)3/2

The total charge (integrate σ(θ) over the whole inner surface of the shell) is −q.

1c) We calculate the force from the field due to the image charge, i.e. F~q = q E
~ q0 =
q(1/4π0 )(q 0 /|~x0 − ~x|2 )(−ẑ) = +(q 2 /4π0 )(ad/(a2 − d2 )2 )ẑ.

1d) Conductor removed from ground: Add to our image charge configuration a uniformly
charged spherical shell of radius a and charge Q0 = (4π0 )aφ0 , which has the effect of
adding a constant potential φ0 everywhere with r < a, i.e. φ< → φ< + φ0 . The charge
distribution (calculated by a derivative) does not change, and this new spherical shell
does not contribute to the interior field, so the force does not change, either. Conductor

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 removed from ground and charged: Now we add an actual charge configuration on the
shell. Gauss’s Law tells us that the total surface charge on the inner surface must
still be −q, which means that the result of the addition of the charge is that the outer
surface now has Q+q distributed over it, which does not affect the charge distribution
on the interior. The effect of the charge distributed over the outer surface is to add a
constant potential on the interior of the spherical shell, φ0 = (1/4π0 )(Q + q)/a; the
field is not affected.

2) From Zangwill eq. (8.60) (the Magic Rule) with ρ = 0 and ε0 = 1, we have
I
ϕ(~x ) = − ~y ·ϕ(~y )∇y G(~x , ~y ) ,
dS (2.1)
S

where S is the union of all the surfaces of the conductors plus a surface at infinity,
~ points into the conductors (and radially outward at infinity). On the surface
and dS
Sj of the j th conductor, ϕ(~y ) = Vj , and at infinity, ϕ(~y ) = 0. Thus eq. (2.1) becomes

N
X Z
ϕ(~x ) = − Vj ~y ·∇y G(~x , ~y ) .
dS (2.2)
j=1 Sj

~ = −∇ϕ. By Gauss’ Law, the

The electric field outside and on the conductors is E
charge on the ith conductor is then (with ε0 = 1)
Z Z
Qi = − ~x · E(~
dS ~ x) = ~x ·∇x ϕ(~x ) ,
dS (2.3)
Si Si

~ points into the conductor. Using eq. (2.2) in eq. (2.3), we get
where again dS

N
X Z Z
Qi = − Vj ~x ·∇x
dS ~y ·∇y G(~x , ~y ) .
dS (2.4)
j=1 Si Sj

P
Since in general Qi = j Cij Vj , we identify
Z Z
Cij = − ~x ·∇x
dS ~y ·∇y G(~x , ~y ) .
dS (2.5)
Si Sj

~ it does not matter whether every dS

Since this is even in dS, ~ points into or out of the
conductor (as long as we use the same convention for every conductor). [This formula
is relatively recent; see M. Uehara, “Green’s functions and coefficients of capacitance,”

2
 Am. J. Phys. 54, 184 (1986); V. Lorenzo and B. Carrascal, “Green’s functions and
symmetry of the coefficients of a capacitance matrix,” Am. J. Phys. 56, 565 (1988).]

3) We use the Magic Rule, eq. (8.60). Because the sphere is grounded, the potential is
zero on the sphere surface, and so we have (with ε0 = 1)
Z
ϕ(~x ) = d3x0 G(~x, ~x 0 )ρ(~x 0 ) . (4.1)

The Dirichlet Green’s function is for the interior of the sphere. This is given by
analogy with eq. (3.5) by
X 1
G(~x, ~x 0 ) = ` −`−1
− a−2`−1 r>
` ∗
(θ0 , φ0 ) .


r< r> Y`m (θ, φ)Y`m (4.2)
2` + 1
`m

Alternatively, the first term in eq. (4.2) is the free-space Green’s function, and the
symmetry on r< ↔ r> in the second term implies that it has no slope discontinuity,
and hence is a solution of Laplace’s equation. Finally, this G can be seen to satisfy
the boundary condition that G vanish for r> = a, and hence eq. (4.2) is the Dirichlet
Green’s function for the interior of a sphere of radius a. The charge density is ρ(~x ) =
(ρ0 /a3 )xyz, and we have

xyz/r3 = sin2 θ cos θ sin φ cos φ

= 1
2 sin2 θ cos θ sin 2φ
= 1
4i sin2 θ cos θ e2iφ − c.c.
= −iκ32 Y32 (θ, φ) − c.c. , (4.3)

p
where for convenience we have defined κ32 ≡ 2π/105. We use the orthonormality
of the spherical harmonics to do the angular integrals; the result is
Z a
ρ0 1
dr0 r05 r<
3 −4
− a−7 r>
3


ϕ(~x ) = −i 3 κ32 r> Y32 (θ, φ) − c.c. .
a 7 0

The two radial integrals are

Z a Z r Z a
0 05 3 −4 −4 0 08
dr r r< r> = r dr r + r 3
dr0 r0 = 91 r5 + 12 r3 (a2 − r2 ) = 21 a2 r3 − 7 5
18 r ,
0 0 r
Z a Z a
−7 0 05 3 3 −7 3
a dr r r< r> = a r dr0 r08 = 19 a2 r3 .
0 0

3
 Thus their difference is
Z a Z a
0 05 3 −4 −7
dr r r< r> − a dr0 r05 r<
3 3
r> = 7
18 (a
2
− r2 )r3 ,
0 0

and so we get

ρ0 1
ϕ(~x ) = −i 3
κ32 (a2 − r2 )r3 Y32 (θ, φ) − c.c.
a 18
ρ0
= 3
(a2 − r2 )r3 sin2 θ cos θ sin φ cos φ
18a
ρ0
= (a2 − r2 )xyz .
18a3
We can get the same result directly in cartesian coordinates by (1) noticing that xyz is a
∂2 ∂2 ∂2
solution of Laplace’s equation, since ∇2 = ∂x2 + ∂y 2 + ∂z 2 clearly annihilates it, and (2)
guessing that r2 xyz should obey ∇2 (r2 xyz) ∝ xyz, on the basis of symmetry and the fact
that ∇2 removes two powers of r. We have r2 xyz = x3 yz + xy 3 z + xyz 3 , and applying
∂2 ∂2 ∂2
∇2 = ∂x2 + ∂y 2 + ∂z 2 yields ∇2 (r2 xyz) = 18xyz. Then, since ∇2 (xyz) = 0, we can form
1
the combination ϕ = − 18 (r2 − a2 )xyz. This obeys −∇2 ϕ = xyz and vanishes at r = a, as
required.

4) We start with the identity:

Z Z
2 2 3 ~ − g ∇f
(f ∇ g − g∇ f )d y = (f ∇g ~ ) · dS
~
V S

Set f (~y ) = G(~y , ~r) and g(~y ) = G(~y , ~r 0 ) where G(~y , ~r) is the Dirichlet Green’s func-
tion. The right hand side vanishes since both f and g now vanish for ~y on S. The
left hand side yields
Z
1
− G(~y , ~r)δ(~y − ~r 0 ) − G(~y , ~r 0 )δ(~y − ~r)
0 V

Since this must vanish, we get G(~r 0 , ~r) = G(~r, ~r 0 ), i.e., the Dirichlet Green’s function
is symmetric.

5) Zangwill 8.15. By symmetry under z ↔ −z, the potential must be an even function
of z, and so we concentrate on z > 0. We use the Magic Rule, eq. (8.60). There is no
free charge, so ρ = 0. The unit normal out of the space of interest (z > 0) is n̂ = −ẑ,
and the bounding surface is the x-y plane. The Magic Rule then yields (with ε0 = 1)
Z 
2 0 0 0 ∂ 0 

ϕ(~x ) = d x ϕ(x , y , 0) 0 G(~x, ~x ) . (5.1)
∂z z 0 =0

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 Now we need the Dirichlet Green’s function appropriate to the z > 0 half space. This
is found by placing an image charge at (x0 , y 0 , −z 0 ), which yields
" #
1 1 1
G(~x, ~x 0 ) = p −p ,
4π (x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 (x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z + z 0 )2

∂ 0 
 1 z
0
G(~x, ~x ) = . (5.2)
∂z z 0 =0 2π [(x − x ) + (y − y 0 )2 + z 2 ]3/2
0 2

For z = 0, we have ϕ = ϕ0 on a patch S0 , and ϕ = 0 outside this patch. Using

eq. (5.2) in eq. (5.1), we get, for z > 0,
Z
ϕ0 z 1
ϕ(~x ) = d2x0 .
2π S0 |~x − ~x 0 |3

Using symmetry under z ↔ −z, we can replace z by |z|.