Problem Set 1
Phys 1602 (Spring 2025)
Due: January 31 at 8pm EST
Problem 1. (5 pts) Cesium Chloride is a salt with a crystal structure in which cubes of
Cs+ ions with sides of length a ≈ 0.4 nm surround Cl – ions, as pictured below. The charges
of these ions are ±e.
Note: Express your answers in terms of a, e, î, ĵ, k̂, and fundamental constants.
(a) What is the magnitude, |F ~ |, of the net electrostatic force on the Cl – ion due to its eight
nearest neighbor Cs+ ions? Hint: consider the Cs+ ions pair-by-pair across the diagonals of
the cube; there are four pairs.
(b) Occasionally defects arise in which one of the Cs+ ions is missing. We call this a vacancy.
Suppose the Cs+ ion at the origin is missing in the diagram above. In this case, what are the
components of the net electrostatic force, F~ vacancy on the Cl – ion due to its remaining seven
nearest neighbor Cs+ ions? Hint: Before you get into extensive calculations, think about this
carefully in light of your answer above, and use the principle of superposition.
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Problem 2. (10 pts) A very thin ring of radius R carries a positive charge Q uniformly
distributed on it. The ring lies in the y − z plane with its center at the origin. A short uni-
formly charged rod of length 2L with an identical positive charge Q is located along z = 0 at
x = L and oriented in the y-direction with one end at y = −L and the other end at y = L.
Both the ring and the rod are insulators, and the charges are fixed in place.
For the system consisting of the rod and the ring, find the magnitude and direction of
~ ) at the point P . Hint: Before you get into extensive calculations of the
the electric field E(P
electric field due to the ring, think carefully in light of the symmetry of this configuration.
Problem 3. (10 pts) A flat, thin non-conducting ring has an inner radius R1 and an outer
radius R2 . The disk is uniformly charged with charge per unit area σ > 0.
What is the magnitude of the electric field at point A which is a distance z above point
P , where the line AP is perpendicular to the plane of the ring? Note: Express your answer
in terms of r̂, φ̂, and ẑ, as needed.
2
Problem 4. (10 pts) Calculate the electric field (in full vector form) at the center of a half
ring of charge of radius R and linear charge density λ that lies in the x − y plane with the
center of the ring located at the origin. See the diagram below.
Problem 5. (10 pts)
Electric field of an electric dipole:
An “electric dipole” is an arrangement of (typically) two charges that have equal magnitude
and opposite sign and are separated by a fixed distance. Suppose a charge −q is located
on the z axis at z = −d/2 and a charge +q is located also on the z axis at z = +d/2. For
simplicity, we will calculate the field in the x − z plane – i.e. for y = 0 – and then use the
cylindrical symmetry to generalize the result.
~ 0, 0).
a. Calculate the electric field at the origin, i.e. E(0,
~
b. Calculate the complete electric field for z = 0, i.e. E(x, 0, 0).
~
c. Calculate the complete electric field for all x and z values, i.e. E(x, 0, z).
d. This charge distribution has cylindrical symmetry about the k̂-axis. So we can gener-
alize the result from part c. by making the replacement î → r̂⊥ , x → r⊥ , where r⊥
is the radial component in cylindrical coordinates. Make this substitution to write the
electric field in cylindrical coordinates.
Problem 6. (5 pts)
Long-distance electric field of an electric dipole:
We will continue the analysis of the electric dipole starting from part c. of Problem 5, but
in the
√ long-distance limit. It will be convenient to use the distance, r, from the origin,
r = x2 + z 2 and the angle θ between and the z axis, such that:
z = r cos θ, x = r sin θ.
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This is shown in the figure below. The long-distance limit corresponds to r >> d.
a. In your result from Problem 1 part c, you should have denominator terms that look
like [x2 + (z ± d/2)2 ]−3/2 . Use the definitions of z and x above to rewrite those in terms
of r and θ. Show that:
1 d
[x2 + (z ± d/2)2 ]−3/2 = [1 ± cos θ]−3/2 .
r3 r
b. In the long-distance limit, dr cos θ is very small. Using the Taylor expansion and keeping
only terms to first order, show that:
d 3d
[1 ± cos θ]−3/2 = 1 ± cos θ.
r 2r
c. Now substitute the results from a. and b. into the expression for the electric field to
show that the electric field can be written as:
~ = 1 qd
E (3 cos θr̂ − k̂).
4π0 r3
How does this dependence with r differ from that of an single point charge?