Electric Flow through a Cylinder Without Bases

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the electric flux through a cylinder that lacks bases, with a specific focus on the geometry and application of Gauss' Law. The original poster presents a formula for the electric flow and seeks clarification on their calculations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore calculating the flux through the cylinder's flat surfaces and discuss the implications of subtracting these from the total flux. The original poster questions their calculations and seeks to identify where their reasoning may have diverged from the expected result.

Discussion Status

There is an ongoing examination of different approaches to the problem, with some participants suggesting methods to calculate the flux through the cylinder's ends. The original poster expresses confusion about their results compared to the expected answer, indicating a productive exploration of the problem.

Contextual Notes

The original poster references specific values and relationships in their calculations, indicating a potential misunderstanding of the geometry involved. The discussion includes attempts to reconcile these calculations with the principles of Gauss' Law.

ori
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http://t2.technion.ac.il/~snoop/Q.gif
Q is at one point
R is the radius of this cylinder, it's height is 2h
the cylinder is without the bases.
how can i calculate the electric flow through it?
the final answer is Q/[epsilon0*sqrt(1+R^2/h^2)]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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Why don't you try calculating the flux through the flat top and bottom of the cylinder? Then you could subtract it from the total flux given by Gauss' Law.
 
ori said:
http://t2.technion.ac.il/~snoop/Q.gif
Q is at one point
R is the radius of this cylinder, it's height is 2h
the cylinder is without the bases.
how can i calculate the electric flow through it?
the final answer is Q/[epsilon0*sqrt(1+R^2/h^2)]
where is my mistake:

we take ball with radius sqrt(R^2+h^2) and look on the rounded bases: the area of this ball inside the cylinder.

flow through bases / flow through all ball = bases area / all ball area

gaus: all ball flow is Q/epsilon0

all ball area is 4pi(R^2+h^2)

base area = circumference of projection of the base on y=2h * height of base
=(2pi*R)*[sqrt(R^2+h^2)-h]

2 bases area = base area * 2 = 4pi*R[sqrt(R^2+h^2)-h]

flow through bases=bases area*flow through all ball / all ball area=
= 4pi(R^2+h^2)Q/(epsilon0 4pi*R[sqrt(R^2+h^2)-h])=
Q(R^2+h^2)/(epsilon0 *R[sqrt(R^2+h^2)-h])

now that's not like that right answer, coz we can assign r=1 h=1
my answer qives 2/(sqrt(2)-1) * Q/epsilon0 = 2(1+sqrt(2)) * Q/epsilon0
right answer gives 1/sqrt(2) * Q/epsilon0
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tide said:
Why don't you try calculating the flux through the flat top and bottom of the cylinder? Then you could subtract it from the total flux given by Gauss' Law.
we get too hard integral at that case:
S r^2/(r^2+h^2)^(3/2) dr
or something like that
 
Last edited:

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