Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-options-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2006/j/j1/solution
Past exam of the options I course of the University of Oxford 2006 J J1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
In SI units, Gauss's law for a closed surface with outward unit normal vector isSpherical symmetry and the absence of an imposed external field make the electric field radial, . For (with the physical radius ),Outside the charge distribution this becomes . Applying Gauss's law on spheres givesBoth formulas agree at , and the first tends to zero at the origin. Thus the total charge is . Negative reverses the field direction. If the radius is zero the distribution vanishes; a negative value of gives no nonnegative-radius support under the printed piecewise inequalities and likewise gives the zero distribution.
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