Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-2-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016-resit/2/solution

Introduce cylinder length and line charge density ; only charge per length matters in the long-cylinder approximation. A coaxial cylindrical Gaussian surface gives . Choosing the outer cylinder's electric potential to be zero,
The capacitance per unit length follows from :
If is intended as a line charge rather than a finite total charge, replace by that . Neglecting end effects, equal opposite cylinder charges make the exterior electric field vanish; the potential difference between the conductors remains the quantity defining their capacitance.

New to topics? Read the docs here!