Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / Paper 1 / Section B / B6 / Solution

Images and uniqueness. The method of images replaces a conducting boundary by fictitious charges outside the physical field region. Choose them so that the resulting electric potential satisfies the required conductor potentials. The Uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem then guarantees the same physical exterior field. For example, a point charge $q$ at height $h$ above a grounded plane has an image $-q$ at height $-h$: the plane is an equipotential at zero, and the charge is attracted toward it by $q^2/(16\pi {\epsilon }_0{h}^2)$. The image is a computational device; the physical conductor carries a continuous induced surface charge density.

Potential of a line. Surround an infinite line charge $\lambda$ by a coaxial Gaussian cylinder of radius $r$ and length $L$. Gauss's law gives $E_r(2\pi rL)=\lambda L/{\epsilon }_0$, hence $E_r=\lambda /(2\pi {\epsilon }_{0}r)$. Integrating $E_r=-dV/dr$ givesWriting an additive constant instead is equivalent. The reference length makes the logarithm dimensionless; an isolated infinite line cannot be assigned a finite zero potential at infinity.

Locating the two lines. Put the grounded plane at $x=0$ and the physical cylinder at $(x,y)=(d,0)$, with axis along $z$ and radius $a<d$. Set $c=\sqrt{d^2-a^2}$, and place line charges $+\lambda$ and $-\lambda$ at $(c,0)$ and $(-c,0)$. If $R_{+}$ and $R_{-}$ are their distances from an observation point, the cylinder-plane image charges giveOn $x=0$, $R_{-}=R_{+}$, so $V=0$. To check the cylinder, define $q=(d+c)/a$. The level set $R_{-}=q{R}_{+}$ is a circle: completing the square givesSince $d^2-c^2=a^2$, its centre is $d$ and radius is $a$. The positive line lies inside the cylinder; the negative line lies behind the plane. There is consequently no fictitious charge in the exterior physical region. A Gaussian contour around the cylinder encloses $+\lambda$ only, so the required physical charge per unit length is also correct. These boundary conditions and the far-field behaviour determine the physical solution by Uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem.

Cylinder voltage. The constant distance ratio on the cylinder immediately givesIts capacitance per unit length is $C^{\prime }=2\pi {\epsilon }_0/\mathrm{arcosh}(d/a)$. In the thin-cable limit, $\mathrm{arcosh}(d/a)\simeq \ln (2d/a)$.

Cable attraction. Because the cable is idealized as infinite, the meaningful answer is force per unit length. For $a=0.020\mathrm{m}$, centre height $d\simeq 10\mathrm{m}$ and $V_c=1.1\times 10^4\mathrm{V}$,The electrostatic attraction per unit length of a cylinder above a plane isFor example, this follows without any ambiguity about moving image positions from $F_d=\frac{1}{2}{V}_c^{2}d{C}^{\prime }/dd$ at fixed voltage, including the work of the voltage source. Its sign is negative because capacitance decreases with height. A cable length $L$ experiences approximately $fL$ downward when end effects are negligible. This is the electrostatic contribution only.