For an isolated smooth conducting sphere of radius , Gauss's law gives surface electric field . Combining its capacitance with capacitor energy gives the displayed bound when the surrounding medium has dielectric strength and approximately vacuum permittivity. Nearby conductors, surface roughness and discharge geometry can lower the practical limit.
For a smooth isolated conducting sphere, Gauss's law gives the surface electric field and electric potential . At the specified dielectric strength, . The capacitance of an isolated conducting sphere is , so its capacitor energy is
This is the ideal breakdown-limited energy of a conducting sphere, taking air's permittivity approximately equal to vacuum permittivity and neglecting nearby objects and surface irregularities. The vacuum permittivity used numerically is .[ref]