- #1
acedeno
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Homework Statement
Consider a uniformly charged solid cylinder of radius R, length L and charge density ρ. Find the
potential at a distance d (> L/2) from the centre of the object, along the axis of the cylinder.
Homework Equations
V=∫kdq/r
The Attempt at a Solution
For me, it makes most sense to express this integral in cylindrical coordinates, seeing as the object is a cylinder. Also, since the axis of which the cylinder is on is not specified. I chose the z axis on a (x,y,z).
-stuff used for integration, respectively.
s[0,R]
Ø[0,2π]
z[0,L]
dq=sdsdØdz
I'm not too good at expressing notation on the computer so this is the basics of what i tried:
1st attempt: I know V(z)=∫E.dl , so, I tried to solve for E by using
E=∫kdq/r^2
E=∫∫∫(kρ/z^2)sdsdØdz
after I finished this integral, I lost confidence when doing the integral for V(z) because It didn't seem right to integrate over the same limits of integrations seeing as dl would be expressed as sdsdØdz - please tell me if I'm wrong.
2nd attempt: I just started with V=∫kdq/r.
V=∫∫∫(kρ/z)sdsdØdz
giving me
V(z)=kρπ*ln(z)*R^2
- I'm not sure which method is correct, if either. Help would be greatly appreciated.
- Also, since were just looking for the function with respect to a distance and because of the way the question was stated, I felt that it was okay to express r as just z rather than (L/2 + z)