Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-2-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015-resit/5/solution

Let and put charge per unit length on the inner shell and on the facing outer conductor. For a long coaxial Gaussian surface of radius in the gap, Gauss's law gives
The electric potential difference between the shells is
With total inner charge , the capacitance is
This assumes a vacuum or approximately air-filled gap and negligible fringing at the ends. A uniform linear dielectric replaces by its permittivity. The expression depends on the shell-to-shell potential difference, not on the arbitrary common potential reference.

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