- #1
Jason Williams
- 21
- 0
Homework Statement
The potential difference Δϕ between the plates of a spherical capacitor is kept constant. Show that the electric field at the surface of the inner sphere will be a minimum at a = b/2, where a is the radius of the inner sphere and b is the radius of the outer sphere.
Homework Equations
E = Q/(4*pi*ϵ0*r^2) between the inner and outer shells and E = sigma/ϵ0 at the surface of a conductor... sorry guys, I'm in a rush and I'm new to Physics Forums so please bear with me noobiness.
The Attempt at a Solution
I tried using E = -dV/dr, setting it equal to 0 and then solving for r, but that clearly doesn't give us the answer. I'm really just confused about how I should even be approaching this problem, and how to extract the E-field from the potential difference.
Thanks!