Potential at the corner of a insulated charged cube

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around calculating the electric potential at the corner of an insulating cube with uniform charge density. The potential at the center of a cube with edge length 2a is suggested to be related to the potential at the corners of smaller cubes through dimensional analysis and superposition. A user proposes that the potential at the center of the larger cube is eight times that of the smaller cube's corner potential. They also explore the relationship between charge and edge length, concluding that doubling the edge length increases the potential by a factor of four. The conversation highlights the challenges in intuitively understanding these relationships while applying mathematical principles.
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Homework Statement


An insulating cube of edge a has a uniform charge density p. The charge is zero everywhere outside the cube. The potential at an infinite distance from the cube is taken to be zero. If the potential at the center of the cube is Vo, find the potential at a corner of the cube. (Hint: Consider the potential at the center of a charged cube with the same charge density but with twice the length of the edge, use the principle of superposition in combination with a dimensional analysis.)

The problem is, I don't know how to find the potential at the center of a charged cube with length of the edge 2a

Homework Equations


i don't know if i am able to use gauss law to find the E-field out side and inside the cube


The Attempt at a Solution


i know that i can make a cube of side 2a by putting 4 cubes together, so the potential at the center of cube of side 2a will be
V_center of cube 2a = 8 V_corner
 
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Make 7 copies of the charged cube of length a. We want to know the potential at the corner of the smaller cube, call that Vc. Arrange the 8 cubes into a larger cube of length 2a. We know that the potential at the center of the larger cube will be 8*Vc. We must now relate that to the known potential at the center of the smaller cube which is Vo somehow using dimensional analysis.

I'm stuck for now %^(
 
i used Mathematica to calculate the potential at the center of the cube,
when a->2a, the potential will be 4 times larger

But i can't see it intuitively!
 
I'll throw this out and see if it makes sense.

Suppose we have cubes of uniform charge rho and of various size a. Let the potential at the center of such cubes be given by,

V = V(Q,R) where Q is the total charge on the cube and R is the length of the cubes edge.

Dimensionally

V = constant*Q/R

If this is true then if we double the edge length then Q --> 8Q and R --> 2*R so V --> 4V

Am I getting closer?
 
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