Prerequisites
Activity: Gauss's Law on Cylinders and Spheres
Choose one or more of the charge distributions given below: ($\alpha$ and $k$ are constants with appropriate dimensions.)
- A positively charged (dielectric) spherical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a spherically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, r^3$.
- A positively charged (dielectric) spherical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a spherically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, e^{(kr)^3}$.
- A positively charged (dielectric) spherical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a spherically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, {1\over r^2}\, e^{kr}$.
- An infinite positively charged (dielectric) cylindrical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a cylindrically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, r^3$.
- An infinite positively charged (dielectric) cylindrical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a cylindrically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, e^{(kr)^2}$.
- An infinite positively charged (dielectric) cylindrical shell of inner radius $a$ and outer radius $b$ with a cylindrically symmetric internal charge density $\rho(\vec r)=\alpha\, {1\over r}\, e^{kr}$.
For each chosen distribution, answer each of the following questions:
- Use Gauss's Law and symmetry arguments to find the electric field at each of the three radii below:
- $r_1>b$
- $a<r_2<b$
- $r_3<a$
- What dimensions do $\alpha$ and $k$ have?
- For $\alpha=1$, $k=1$, sketch the magnitude of the electric field as a function of $r$.