Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/paper-1/section-a/a1/solution
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2018 Paper 1 Section A A1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
An infinite sheet of surface charge density gives an electric field of magnitude on either side, normal to the sheet and directed away from positive charge. Use the superposition principle for the two sheets. Choose normals for and for . Away from the charged planes,The minus sign on the second contribution makes its field point toward the negatively charged sheet. Each sector has a uniform electric field; its direction changes on crossing a sheet.
Original calculated electric-field directions for the intersecting positive and negative charge sheets; arrows retain the relative field magnitudes in the four sectors
. Details. For example, above both sheets the field points right and slightly upward, whereas in the sector but it points left and steeply upward. The other two sectors follow by inversion through the origin. The normal field jumps by the appropriate surface charge divided by ; a single field value on an ideal zero-thickness charged sheet is not required.
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