Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / Paper 2 / 15 / c / Solution

The condition at infinity gives $C_{\mathrm{out}}=0$. Matching the electric potential at $r=a$ givesConsequentlyThis function is finite and differentiable at the origin. At the joining radius, both $V$ and $V^{\prime }$ match, giving $V(a)=-k/a$ and $V^{\prime }(a)=k/a^2$. Thus the electric field is continuous there as well as being conservative on each side. This is the potential of a uniform spherical source, with source coefficient $3k/a^3$.