Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/section-c/c8/c/solution

Consider a long uniform length of a coaxial cylindrical capacitor, with permittivity and inner-cylinder charge per unit length . A cylindrical Gaussian surface gives
The electric potential difference is
Thus its capacitance per unit length is .
In the partially filled coaxial capacitor, the vacuum section of length and the dielectric section of length share the same two conductors and hence the same electric potential difference. They are electrically in parallel, not in series. The radial electric field is tangent to the axial dielectric interface, consistent with the boundary condition in part (b). Adding their charges gives
This is the leading long-capacitor expression, neglecting end and interface-fringing corrections. The stated supports a long filled section; treating the other section as uniform also requires it to be well away from the end regions when those corrections matter.

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