 1 Q ˆ

21.88: a)  From Eq . (22 .9), E = 4πε x x 2 + a 2 i

0

 1 (−9.00 ×10 −9 C )
⇒E = iˆ = (−1.29 ×10 6 N C) iˆ.
4πε 0 (2.5 ×10 m) (2.5 ×10 m) + (0.025 m)
−3 − 3 2 2

(b) The electric field is less than that at the same distance from an infinite line of

1 2λ −1 2Q
charge ( Ea →∞ = 4πε = = −1.30 ×10 6 N C). This is because in the
0 x 4πε 0 x 2a

approximation, the terms left off were negative.

1 λ λ  x2 
≈  1 − 2 + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅  =
(
2πε0 x 1 + ax 2
2
) 12
2πε0 x  2a 
E ∞ − (Higher order terms).
Line

c) For a 1% difference, we need the next highest term in the expansion that was left
off to be less than 0.01:
x2
< 0.01 ⇒ x < a 2(0.01) = 0.025 m 2(0.01) ⇒ x < 0.35 cm.
2a 2