Exercises 2

1. Express in cylindrical coordinates the following operators:

(a) f
A

(b)

(c)

(d) f

2. Show that:
(a) (kx) = (x)/|k| for any constant k = 0. In particular, (x) = (x)

(b) d/dx = (x), where is the step function

(x) =

if x > 0

if x 0

2 ) = 4 (3) (d),
where d := r ro and
(d/d
is with respect to r.
(c)

(d) Compute the charge density that is responsible for an electric field of the form
br

= Ae
E

r2

er

using spherical coordinates. [Hint: mind the r = 0 point!]

3. The electric field in a region R is found to be (in spherical coordinates)
= kr3er
E
(a) Find the charge density (r) in the region.
(b) Find the total charge contained in a sphere of radius R centered at the origin.
(c) Suppose that the region R you were initially given is actually the sphere of (b), and for r > R the
charge density is zero. Compute the electric field at r > R. What happens to the field at r = R?
[Hint: use Gauss law in integral form for a sphere of radius r.]