Physics 114

Exam 1 Fall 2014

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For grading purposes (do not write here):

Question Problem

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.

Answer each of the following questions and each of the problems. Points for each
question and problem are indicated in red with the amount being spread equally among
parts (a,b,c etc). Be sure to show all your work.
Use the back of the pages if necessary.
Question 1. (10 points)
(a) Rank the magnitude of the electric field from greatest to smallest in the Figure below

𝐸𝐶 = 0,
𝐸𝐴 > 𝐸𝐵 ,

Therefore,
𝐸𝐴 > 𝐸𝐵 > 𝐸𝐶

(b) The charge on the right is changed to a negative charge of equal magnitude to the one on
the left. Draw the field lines of the system of two charges.

+ -
Question 2. (10 points) . A test charge of + 3 nC is placed in a constant external field directed
along the positive x-axis with a magnitude of 4 × 106 N/C.
(a) What is the direction of the force on this charge?

̂)
𝑭 = 𝑞𝑬 = (+)(+𝒙
Positive x-direction

(b) If the test charge is replaced by a negative test charge with q = - 3 nC, what is the
direction of the force on this negative charge?

𝑭 = 𝑞𝑬 = (−)(+𝒙
̂) = (−𝒙
̂)

Negative x-direction
(c) When the positive test charge is replaced by the negative one, what happens to the
external electric field, does it increase significantly, decrease significantly, or essentially
stay the same?

Essentially stay the same, the electric field is not dependent on the test charge, unlike the force
.
𝐹 1 𝑞𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑞𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 1 𝑞𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝐸⃑ = = 2
=
𝑞𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 4𝜋𝜖0 𝑞𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑟 4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 2
Question 3. (10 points).
(a) Rank the electric fluxes through each of the Gaussian surfaces shown below from largest
to smallest. If there are any ties (equalities) indicate so.

Φ𝐸 ∝ 𝑞enclosed
Therefore, according to the images above, we can see relatively quickly that
ΦA = ΦB and ΦD = 0. Finally, we can say C>A=B>D, which relates to the
idea that 3Q>Q=Q>0.
Thereby, we know that: ΦC > ΦA = ΦB > Φ𝐷 .

(b) Suppose a point charge is located at the center of a spherical surface.

The electric field at the surface of the sphere and the total flux
through the sphere are determined. Now the radius of the sphere is
halved. What happens to the flux through the sphere and the magnitude
of the electric field at the surface of the sphere? (a) The flux and field
both increase. (b) The flux and field both decrease. (c) The flux
increases, and the field decreases. (d) The flux decreases, and the field
increases. (e) The flux remains the same, and the field increases. (f) The
flux decreases, and the field remains the same.
1
We know ∝ 2 . So the field increases as the radius increases. The flux does
𝑟
not change since the number of field lines penetrating the surface does not
change. This is also what Gauss law says.
With this in mind, we can now say that field will increase and yet the flux will
remain constant: (e) The flux remains the same, and the field increases.
Problem 1. (15 points) Twopoint charges lie along x-axis. The charge q1 = 2 C at
x = 0.01 m and the charge q2 = - 4 C is at x = -0.01 m. (a) Find the resultant
electric field at the point P which is at (0, 0.02). (b) Calculate the force on a
2 nC charge if it were placed at point P.
y
(0,0.02) P

(-0.01,0) (0.01,0)
x
q2 q1

(a) 𝑬𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑬1 + 𝑬2 = (𝐸1 ∗ cos(63.4) + 𝐸2 ∗ cos(63.4))(−𝑖̂) + (𝐸1 ∗ sin(63.4) − 𝐸2 ∗

sin(63.4))𝑗̂ = (−4.86 ∗ 1013 (𝑖̂) − 3.24 ∗ 1013 (𝑗̂)) 𝑁/𝐶

(b) 𝑭 = 𝑞𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑬 = 2 ∗ 10−9 𝐶(−4.86 ∗ 1013 (𝑖̂) − 3.24 ∗ 1013 (𝑗̂))𝑁

= [−9.8 ∗ 104 (𝒊̂) − 6.5 ∗ 104 (𝒋̂)]𝑁
Problem 2. (15 points) Assume the magnitude of the electric field on each face of
the cube of edge L = 1.00 m in the figure below is uniform and the directions
of the fields on each face are as indicated. Find (a) the net electric flux through
the cube and (b) the net charge inside the cube. (c) Could the net charge be a
single point charge?
Part (a)
i. Φ𝐸,𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡 = 𝐸𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜃)
𝑁
= 20 ∗ 1𝑚2 ∗ cos(0°)
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
= 20
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
ii. Φ𝐸,𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = −35
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
iii. Φ𝐸,𝑇𝑜𝑝 = −25
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
iv. Φ𝐸,𝐵𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 = 15
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
v. Φ𝐸,𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 = 20
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
vi. Φ𝐸,𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘 = 20
𝐶
𝑁𝑚2
vii. ∑ ΦE = 15
𝐶

Part (b)
−12
𝐶2 𝑁𝑚2
𝑞𝑖𝑛 = 𝜖0 Φ𝐸 = (8.85 ∗ 10 ) (15 ) = 1.33 ∗ 10−10 𝐶
𝑁𝑚2 𝐶

Part (c)
No, the fields on the faces sometimes come in and sometimes go out, there
could not be a single point charge.
Problem 3. (15 points) A solid,
conducting sphere of radius a = 0.1 m
has a total charge Q = 10 C. Concentric with this sphere is an insulating
hollow sphere that has a uniform charge density throughout its volume, = 10-4
C/m3 and whose inner and outer radii are
b = 0.2 m and c = 0.4 m, as shown in Figure below.
Find the electric field at
a) r = 0.05 m
b) r = 0.15 m
c) r = 0.3 m
d) r = 0.5 m

Hints: The volume of a sphere is 4/3r3 and that for a hollow sphere is (4/3r13-
4/3r23) where r1 and r2 are the outer and inner radii.

Conductor (a) 𝐸⃑ = 0, no electric field inside a conductor

𝑘𝑄 𝑄 10𝜇𝐶
(b) 𝐸⃑ = 𝑟 2 = 4𝜋𝜖 𝑟 2 = 𝑠 2 𝐴2
0 4𝜋(8.85∗10−12 )(0.15𝑚)2
Insulator 𝑘𝑔 𝑚3
𝑘𝑔 𝑚
𝐸⃑ = 4.0 ∗ 106
𝐴𝑠 3

(c) ∮ 𝐸⃑ ∗ 𝑑𝐴 = 𝐸⃑ (4𝜋𝑟 2 ) = 𝑞/𝜖0, r = 0.3 m

4 4
𝑞 = 10 𝜇𝐶 + 𝜌 𝜋(𝑟 3 − 𝑏 3 ) = 10 𝜇𝐶 + (0.0001) 𝜋(0.33 − 0.23 )𝐶
3 3
 18 C
(9  109 )(18  106 )
E N / C  1.8  106 N / C
0.32
(d) ∮ 𝐸⃑ ∗ 𝑑𝐴 = 𝐸⃑ (4𝜋𝑟 2 ) = 𝑞/𝜖0 , r = 0.5 m
4 4
𝑞 = 10 𝜇𝐶 + 𝜌 𝜋(𝑐 3 − 𝑏 3 ) = 10 𝜇𝐶 + (0.0001) 𝜋(0.43 − 0.23 )𝐶
3 3
 33.5 C
(9  109 )(33.5  106 )
E 2
N / C  1.2  106 N / C
0.5
 Possibly Useful Information
1 | q 1 || q 2 |  0  8.85 X 10 -12 (C 2 / N  m 2 )
F
4  0 r 2
-19  
e = 1.6 X 10 C E  Fq
0
| q|  
E  0    0  E. dA  q enc
4  0 r 2
1 
ke   9 109 N m 2 / C2 r = xi + yj + zk
4 0