Physics 15b Assignment #12

By Monday May 2, read Chapter 10 of Purcell. Usually, I absolutely don’t want you to focus
on formulas, and I don’t mind if Purcell makes you think about what the relevant formulas are
rather than highlighting them for easy use. But in this chapter, I think that he has overdone it a bit,
and I thought it might be useful if I collected some of the relations that you should be looking to
understand in this chapter. Here they are: The polarization density P~ satisfies

bound = r
~
P~ (1)

The susceptibility e is defined by

P~ = e E~ (2)
The dielectric constant  is
 = 1 + 4  e (3)
From this it follows that
 1~
P~ = E (4)
4

Q&A questions to be answered on the Physics 15b website before 11pm on Monday, May
2:

12QA-1. In problem 10.14 in Purcell, what are the capacitances of the middle and lower capac-
itors in the figure, respectively?

+1
A : 2(1 + ) C0 and C
2 0
2 +1
B: C0 and C
1+ 2 0

C : 2(1 + ) C0 and C
2(1 + ) 0
2 
D: C0 and C
1+ 2(1 + ) 0
E : None of the above pairs.

12QA-2. A conducting sphere with radius r1 carries a charge Q, It sits inside a spherical shell
of dielectric matrial with dielectric constant , inner radius r2 and outer radius r3 , as shown in the

1
illustration. What is the total quantity of bound charge on the inner surface of the dielectric shell?

A: ( 1) Q

 1
B: Q
4

 1
C: Q


 1
D: Q
4
E : None of the above.

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.... .... .... r1 ... r2 ... r3 ....
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.... ....... vacuum ... ........ .....
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In addition, there are some survey questions and feedback questions.

2
 Problems due at the beginning of class on Thursday, May 5 —

12.1. Consider a cube with side a centered at the origin with its edges oriented parallel to the
coordinate axes. Suppose that the three faces with x = a=2, y = a=2 and z = a=2 respectively
carry a uniform surface charge density  while the other three faces carry a uniform surface charge
density  .

12.1.a. Find the dipole moment.

12.1.b. If a charge Q sits at (b; 0; 0) for b  a, find the force and torque on the cube.

12.2. Do problem 10.13 in Purcell.

By considering how the introduction of a dielectric changes the energy stored in a
capacitor, show that the correct expression for the energy density in a dielectric must
be E 2 =8 . Then compare the energy stored in the electric field with that stored in the
magnetic field in the wave studied in Section 10.15.

12.3. Do problem 10.24 in Purcell.

p
A block of glass, refractive index n = , fills the space y > 0, its surface being the
xz plane. A plane wave traveling in the positive y direction through the empty space
y < 0 is incident upon this surface. The electric field in this wave is z^Ei sin(ky !t).
There is a wave inside the glass block, described exactly by Eq. 68. There is also a
reflected wave in the space y < 0, traveling away from the glass in the negative y
direction. Its electric field is z^Er sin(ky + !t). Of course, each wave has its magnetic
field, of amplitude, respectively, Bi , B0 , and Br . The total magnetic field must be
continuous at y = 0, and the total electric field, being parallel to the surface, must
be continuous also. Show that this requirement, and the relation of B0 to E0 given
in Eq. 70, suffice to determine the ratio of Er to Ei . When a light wave is incident
normally at an air-glass interface, what fraction of the energy is reflected if the index
n is 1:6?

12.4.. Consider a parallel plate capacitor with plate separation s and area A, filled with dielectric
with a small susceptibility, e  1. Because e is small, the (average) electric field inside the
capacitor can be computed directly in a simple iterative procedure. Orient the plates perpendicular
to the z axis and call the charge on the top and bottom plates plates Q.

12.4.a. ~ 0 the electric field that would exist between the plates if there there were no
Call E
dielectric. Show that (this is review!!!)
4Q
E~ 0 = z^ (12-4.1)
A
~ 0 produces a polarization in the dielectric
Now the electric field E
4e Q
P~1 = e E~ 0 = z^ (12-4.2)
A
3
This in turn produces bound charges on surfaces of the dielectric next to the plates. Find them,
and then compute the contribution E ~ 1 of these charges to the field between the plates. Now iterate!
~ 1 produces a polarization P~2 which produces charges that cause a field E~ 3 that produces
The field E
a polarization P~3 .... and so on. Find E~ n for arbitrary n.
12.4.b. Now solve the problem exactly for E ~ as a function of e and show that the E~ n you
~ around e = 0, so that
calculated in part a is the (n + 1)st term in the Taylor expansion of E
X 1
E~ (e ) = E~ n (12-4.3)
n=0