Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-2-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017-resit/8/a/solution
Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford 2017 resit 8 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Take from the negative to the positive point charge. Their electric dipole moment is . Place them at and use the superposition principle for the electric potential:For , the first-order Taylor expansion of the reciprocal distances givesto leading electric dipole order. In spherical coordinates aligned with , the gradient gives , and . ThusEquivalently, the electric dipole field is . The omitted terms vanish relative to these leading expressions as .
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