Physics 110A Midterm Review

1. Consider a pair of conducting spherical shells, they are concentric with radii a and b (a < b)
respectively. The space between the shells is filled with a dielectric having a position-dependent
permeability: r = 1 + k/r.
(a) Find the capacitance of this setup.
(b) Find the bound charges.
2. Above an infinite grounded conducting plate is an dipole with strength p. It is of distance L
away from the plate and its orientation is perpendicular to the plate.
(a) Find the attractive force acts on the dipole.
(b) Find the total energy of the configuration.
3. An isolated spherical shell of radius R has its center put at the origin. It is given a certain charge
density distribution on its surface: = 0 sin2 , where is the usual angle from the z-axis. Find
the potential everywhere in the space.
4. (Harder) Two identical spherical conductors of radius R is initially barely touching each other.
Now the conductors are pulled slightly apart, which the separation is small enough to be negligible, such that no charge can flow between the spheres. Then we charge up the conductors
so that they have the same net charge Q. Use method of images to find the total electrostatic
energy of this configuration.
(Hint: You will need infinitely many image charges, but the final result has a simple expression,
if you use the identity 1 12 + 13 14 + ... = ln 2.)