Boundary conditions in dielectric problems

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a conducting sphere partially submerged in a dielectric medium and the challenges of applying boundary conditions to determine the electric field and charge densities. A potential issue arises when calculating the normal components of electric displacement at the interface between the two media, leading to confusion about the surface charge density on the sphere. The participants highlight that the assumption of uniform charge density may be incorrect due to the differing polarization effects of the two dielectrics. The need for careful consideration of how the dielectric influences charge distribution on the sphere is emphasized. Ultimately, the complexities of dielectric interactions require a nuanced understanding of boundary conditions in electrostatics.
RickRazor
Messages
17
Reaction score
3
Q) A conducting sphere of radius R floats half submerged in a liquid dielectric medium of permittivity e1. The region above the liquid is a gas of permittivity e2. The total free charge on the sphere is Q. Find a radial inverse-square electric field satisfying all boundary conditions and determine the free, bound, and total charge densities at all points on the surface of the sphere. Formulate an argument to show that this electric field is the actual one.

By the condition that potential should be same at the interface between dielectric 1 and dielectric 2, we get that potential as a function of r is same in both media.
But my question is that, when we use the second boundary condition, i.e., the normal components of Electric displacements have a difference of the free charge density on the interface, we get something weird.

D inside the conducting sphere is 0 and the potential is of the form A/r due to spherical symmetry and boundary conditions.

D1n(Normal component of Electric displacement in dielectric 1) at r=R= -e1*A/r^2
D2n(Normal component of Electric displacement in dielectric 2) at r=R = -e2*A/r^2

So, using the conditions, we get
D1n - 0 =sigma
D2n - 0 = sigma

Which is obviously wrong. So where did I make a mistake?
Thank you
 
Physics news on Phys.org
An answer from StackExchange:

You have made an incorrect assumption about the surface charge density on the conducting sphere.
If you have a parallel plate capacitor with air between the plates there is a uniform charge density on the plates.
What does introducing a dielectric half way into the capacitor do to the surface charge density on the plates?

Farcher
 
A bit late, but I found this thread searching for a similar problem:

If the two dielectric media in contact with the sphere polarize differently they would have different surface polarization charge densities just outside the sphere. The charge on the sphere would get rearranged accordingly.
 
Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
TL;DR Summary: I came across this question from a Sri Lankan A-level textbook. Question - An ice cube with a length of 10 cm is immersed in water at 0 °C. An observer observes the ice cube from the water, and it seems to be 7.75 cm long. If the refractive index of water is 4/3, find the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. I could not understand how the apparent height of the ice cube in the water depends on the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. Does anyone have an...
Thread 'A bead-mass oscillatory system problem'
I can't figure out how to find the velocity of the particle at 37 degrees. Basically the bead moves with velocity towards right let's call it v1. The particle moves with some velocity v2. In frame of the bead, the particle is performing circular motion. So v of particle wrt bead would be perpendicular to the string. But how would I find the velocity of particle in ground frame? I tried using vectors to figure it out and the angle is coming out to be extremely long. One equation is by work...
Back
Top