8 JACOB LEWIS BOURJAILY

2.10 Let us consider a large parallel plate capacitor which is made up of two plane conducting sheets
separated by a distance D. One of the sheets has a hemispherical boss of radius a on its inner
surface and D >> a. The conductor and the boss are grounded and the electric field between
the plates is E0 .
a) We are to calculate and sketch the surface-charge density on the sheet with the boss.
This problem appears to be identical to that of a conducting sphere in a uniform electric
field which was worked out in class and in Jackson. For that problem, the potential
was constant over a sphere in a uniform field. By the symmetry of that problem, the
plane orthogonal to the field would automatically be at zero potential. Therefore,
we suspect that the problem is precisely identical.
Following this, we suppose that the potential is given by
µ ¶
a3
ϕ(r) = −E0 r − 2 cos θ,
r
where a is the radius of the sphere, r is the magnitude of the vector r, and θ is the
angle relative to the electric field E.
Notice that when r = a, the potential vanishes, thereby satisfying the boundary condition
on the boss. Furthermore, the potential identically vanishes everywhere on the plane
orthogonal to the electric field, because cos θ = 0.
Therefore, ϕ is the correct electric potential.
We can now trivially solve for the surface-charge density. We can determine the density
on the boss or plane by computing the derivative of ϕ in the direction normal to the
boss or plane. On the boss, this is given by
¯ µ ¶
∂ϕ ¯¯ a3
σ(r) = − ²0 = E 1 + 2 cos θ = 3²0 E0 cos θ.
∂r ¯
0
|r|=a a3
For points on the plane, the normal direction is dz = −rdθ and so we have
¯ ¯ µ ¶ µ ¶
∂ϕ ¯¯ ∂ϕ ¯¯ a3 a3
σ(r) = − ²0 = ²0 = −E0 1 − 3 (− sin π/2) = ²0 E0 1 − 3 .
∂z ¯θ=π/2 r∂θ ¯θ=π/2 r r
In figure 2 below, we have plotted the surface charge density of the sheet-boss system.
The shading indicates the density of charge.

Figure 2. Problem (2.10): Induced charge density as a function of position on the

conductor. The shading labels the charge density and is in arbitrary units. Specifically,
{²0 E0 , a} 7→ 1.
 PHYSICS 505: CLASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS HOMEWORK 2 9

b) Let us compute the magnitude of the charge on the boss.

Quite directly, we have that
Z Z 1
2
Q = σda = 2πa 3²0 E0 cos θd cos θ = 3π²0 E0 a2 .
0

c) Let us now consider the charge induced on the boss given a charge located a distance d from its
center. We are to compute the charge induced on the boss.
proof: This situation is nearly identical to that worked out in class and in Jackson where
we considered the surface charge density induced by a point charge a distance d
from a conducting, grounded sphere. By the symmetry here, it is quite clear that
this description applies—at least for our analysis of the boss. To make the potential
vanish on the sheet, however, we must do a little more work. However, it is not to
hard to guess what need: if we add two image charges to this system, symmetrized
along the direction of the point charge then the potential will precisely vanish along
the conducting plane. Specifically, if the charge q is a distance d from the sphere,
2
then in the direction q, there should be image charges q 0 = − ad q at d0 = ad , q 00 = ad
2
placed at d00 = − ad and q 000 = −q placed at −d.
When this system is set up, it is clear that the fixed, vanishing potential on the boss
is achieved because each pair of charges separately leave ϕ = 0 on the boss. The
potential on the plane vanishes by the planar symmetry of the problem. Therefore,
this system satisfies our boundary conditions and can be used to compute the density.
The calculation of the density follows precisely that of Jackson’s for each charge-pari
separately. Therefore, we may conclude that the charge density on the sphere is
given by
Therefore, we can call upon our previous work to notice that surface charge density
should be given by
 
µ 2
¶
q a 1 1
σ(θ) = − 1 − 2 ¡ ¢3/2 − ¡ ¢3/2  .
4πad d a2 a
1 + d2 − 2 d cos θ a2
1 + d2 + 2 ad cos θ
Let us compute the total induced charge directly.
 
Z µ 2
¶ Z 1
q a ¡ 1 1
q 0 = σda = −
4πad
1 − 2 2πa2
d 2 ¢3/2 − ¡ a2
¢3/2  d cos θ,
0 1 + ad2 − 2 ad cos θ 1+ d2 + 2 ad cos θ
µ ¶ "Z a 2 Z a 2
#
q a2 (1− d ) du (1+ d ) du
= 1− 2 + ,
4 d 1+ a2
2 u3/2 1+ a2
2
u3/2
 d d

µ ¶ ¯(1− ad )2 ¯ 1+ a 2
q a  1 ¯¯
2
1 ¯¯( d ) 
=− 1− 2 + 1/2 ¯ ,
2 d u1/2 ¯ a2
1+ d2 u 1+ d2a2

 
q³ a´ ³ a´  1 1 1 1 ,
=− 1+ 1− + −q −q
2 d d 1 − ad 1 + ad 1+ a2
1+ a2
d2 d2
 ³ 2
´
q a a 1 − ad2
= − 1 + + 1 − − 2 q ,
2 d d 1− a
2
d2
µ ¶
0 d2 − a2
∴ q = −q 1 − √ .
d d2 − a2 ‘ ’
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