- #1
Yoni V
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Homework Statement
The first part is to calculate the electric field everywhere in space given a body of 2 spheres of radius R and distance d apart (d<R), located on the z-axis, with charge density ρ and -ρ.
Of course when r>>R this is essentially a dipole.
The second part is to approximate the field outside the body given R>>d, i.e. the 2 spheres almost entirely overlap.
Homework Equations
E=E1+E2
The Attempt at a Solution
Using the superposition principle I got to the following expression for the electric field outside the body (before the approx.):
E=kρ4/3piR^3[(r-d/2z-hat)/|r-d/2z-hat|^3-(r+d/2z-hat)/|r+d/2z-hat|^3]
(sorry, couldn't get the latex to work...)
Now, if R>>d I approximated it to be zero:
E=kρ4/3piR^3[r/|r|^3-r/|r|^3]=0
It kinda makes sense as a crude approximation because the charges almost cancel entirely. But I'm pretty sure this not how I'm expected to approximate it. I'm guessing some sort of leading order term, but I don't know how to pick it out from the above expression.
Thanks!
Johnathan