Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/s16/2/1/solution

For weak potentials, Boltzmann electrons give against fixed ions. Poisson's equation becomes outside a test charge, giving a Yukawa potential with . For a small electron displacement relative to fixed ions, charge separation produces restoring field , so . Hence . The two formulas respectively encode thermal screening and electron inertia.

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