Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ib/paper-3/17c/i/solution

Let the smaller charge be at and the other charge be at , where ; an overall sign reversal changes no zero-potential locus. Put . The electrostatic potential vanishes exactly when . Completing the square gives the Apollonius sphere
The distances from its center to the charge positions are and . Thus it encloses exactly the charge of smaller magnitude. Unequal magnitudes are essential: the equal-magnitude case instead gives the perpendicular bisector plane.

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