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[SOLVED] another concentric sphere electric field question
Interestingly, the very next question does specify uniformly distributed charges. This inconsistency has me worried that we were not to make that assumption in the 1st question from the other thread. Time to visit the office hours!
Two concentric plastic spherical shells carry uniformly distributed charges, Q on the inner shell and –Q on the outer shell. Find the electric field (a) inside the smaller shell, (b) between the shells, and (c) outside the larger shell.
I imagine the answer for (a) is no field, (b) is same as the previous question, only negative:[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{{ - Q}}{{4\pi r^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
But I'm not sure about (c). I'm guessing it would be
[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{Q}{{4\pi r_1^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r }} - \frac{Q}{{4\pi r_2^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
where r1 is the distance to the outer shell and r2 is the distance to the inner shell. Is this right? Is there a better way to express this or to simplify this expression?
Perhaps
[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{1}{{4\pi \varepsilon _0 }}\left( {\frac{Q}{{r_1^2 }}{\rm{\hat r }} - \frac{Q}{{r_2^2 }}} \right){\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
Interestingly, the very next question does specify uniformly distributed charges. This inconsistency has me worried that we were not to make that assumption in the 1st question from the other thread. Time to visit the office hours!
Homework Statement
Two concentric plastic spherical shells carry uniformly distributed charges, Q on the inner shell and –Q on the outer shell. Find the electric field (a) inside the smaller shell, (b) between the shells, and (c) outside the larger shell.
The Attempt at a Solution
I imagine the answer for (a) is no field, (b) is same as the previous question, only negative:[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{{ - Q}}{{4\pi r^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
But I'm not sure about (c). I'm guessing it would be
[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{Q}{{4\pi r_1^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r }} - \frac{Q}{{4\pi r_2^2 \varepsilon _0 }}{\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
where r1 is the distance to the outer shell and r2 is the distance to the inner shell. Is this right? Is there a better way to express this or to simplify this expression?
Perhaps
[tex]
\overrightarrow E = \frac{1}{{4\pi \varepsilon _0 }}\left( {\frac{Q}{{r_1^2 }}{\rm{\hat r }} - \frac{Q}{{r_2^2 }}} \right){\rm{\hat r}}
[/tex]
Homework Equations
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