1

r R q r0 r

O
Figure 1:

Geometry of the problem.

Solution to problem 3.41 p. 156

a)

Denote V = {r : |r r0 | R} the ball of radius R centered at r0 . Let q be a single charge1 at r inside V , see Figure 1. The average eld in V is due to Coulomb's law
E ave = 1 4R3 /3
V

E (r ) d v = r r dv |r r |3

3 4R3
V

q rr dv 40 |r r |3

= 40
V

where the charge density is dened as

= 3q 4R3

Note that this last expression is identical to the the eld at r from a uniformly charged ball (charge density ) of radius R centered at r0 . We denote the eld from the uniformly charged ball by E uni (r ), and we have proved the result of part a), i.e.,
E ave = E uni (r ) = 40 r r dv |r r |3
V

b)

The eld E uni (r ) can also be obtained by Gauss' law. We get by symmetry
E uni (r ) = |E uni (r )|
1 We
prefer to denote the position of the charge by

r r0 |r r 0 |
instead of

r,

which in the notion of the

problem in the textbook.

2 Gauss' law applied to a sphere of radius |r r0 | centered at r0 reads

|E uni (r )| 4 |r r 0 |2 = 4 |r r 0 |3 /0 3

or
|E uni (r )| =

|r r 0 | 30

and the eld becomes

E uni (r ) = |r r 0 | r r 0 r r0 q r r0 = = 30 |r r 0 | 30 4R3 0

Superposition of two point charges q at r = r and at r = r+ , respectively, inside V implies that the eld is
E ave = E uni (r ) = q r+ r0 q r r0 q r+ r p + = = 3 3 3 4R 0 4R 0 4R 0 40 R3

where the electric dipole moment is p = q (r+ r ), and we have proved the result of part b).
c)
i.e.

If there are several electric dipoles inside V , we have to sum all contributions,
E ave = P p = 3 40 R 30 p 4R3 /3

where the polarization in the ball is P dened as

P =

and we have proved the result of part c).

d)

The average electric eld over the ball V due to all charges outside V is
E out ave = 1 4R3 /3
V

E (r ) dv

where E (r) is the eld due to all charges outside V . Denote the volume outside V by V = R3 \ V and the charge density in V by . We get by Coulomb's law
E (r ) = 1 40
V

(r )

rr dv |r r |3

and we obtain
E out ave = 3 4R3
V

1 40
V

(r )

rr dv dv |r r |3

3
n

r r0 r r

r0

O
Figure 2:

Geometry of the evaluation of the vector eld A(r ).

Change the order of integration. We get

E out ave = 3 1 4R3 40
V

(r )
V

rr dv dv |r r |3

The expression inside the parenthesis can be evaluated explicitly. Denote

A(r ) =
V

rr dv, |r r |3

r /V

By an analogous theorem to the divergence theorem,2 we obtain

A(r ) =
V

1 dv = |r r |
S

(r ) n dS |r r |

=
S

(r ) n dS |(r r 0 ) (r r 0 )|

The vector eld A(r ) is evaluated by locating the origin of a cartesian coordinate system at r0 and let the z axis of this system coincide with the r r0 direction, see Figure 2. We get (|r r0 | = R, and only the component parallel with r r0
2 We
are using

dv =
V S

dS n

4 survives which contributes with an extra cos factor)

A(r ) = 2 r |r r = 2 |r
cos r0 R2 sin d 2 2 r0 | 0 R + r 2Rr cos x dx r0 2 1 R r0 | R2 + r 2 2Rr x 1

Evaluation of the remaining integral gives

A(r ) = 4R3 r r 0 3 |r r 0 |3 4R3 r r 0 dv 3 |r r 0 |3

and we get
E out ave =

3 1 3 4R 40
V

(r )

1 = 40
V

(r )

r0 r dv = E (r 0 ) |r 0 r |3

and we have proved the result of part d).