Compute voltage inside sphere of uniform charge

Gary Roach
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Homework Statement


Problem 2.21 from Introduction to Electrodynamics, David J. Griffiths, Third Edition.

Find the potential inside and outside a uniformly charged solid sphere who's radius is R and whose total charge is q. Use infinity as your reference point.


Homework Equations


Given: q, R, r'(r inside sphere)
Variable: r
∫E da =q/ε0
V = -∫[itex]^{r}_{∞}[/itex]E dl


The Attempt at a Solution


Outside of sphere:
|E|∫s r2sinΘdΘdø = (1/ε0)q
E = (q)[itex]\widehat{r}[/itex]/(4π εor2)
V = -∫[itex]^{r}_{∞}[/itex]E dr =q/4πε0r

The above is pretty straight forward. On the other hand, the Voltage inside the sphere completely illudes me. From the answer book, I know that is an A - B type problem but can't seem to get my mind around the concept. I know that the Voltage is a function of the radius but the E field is not zero as in a hollow sphere. How is the basic equation for the E field inside the sphere derived?
 
Last edited:
on Phys.org
charge inside the gaussian surface at r<R is proportional to the Volume enclosed: rho V_inside
where rho = q/(4/3 pi R^3)
 
For a radius r>R, consider the sphere with a smaller radius (smaller than r) and the hollow sphere with a larger radius (larger than r) as separate objects. How can you calculate their field contributions?
 

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