Rwanda Coding Academy (RCA)

Year I
2023 - 2024

Applied Physics I-Electrostatics:

Assignment 2

Instructor: Projecte HABYARIMANA

February 1st , 2024

 1. An electric charge located at point 𝑃 (1, 15𝑜, 5) is said to be in which coordinate system?
(i) Cartesian system
(ii) Cylindrical system
(iii) Spherical system
(iv) Space system
2. Explain briefly a Faraday cage and give one example of it.
3. Lightning causes the earth to acquire a negative charge, and this charge creates an
electric field in the air. Treating the earth as a flat conductor, estimate the surface charge
density on the ground by using Gauss’s law when the field in the air is 100 N/C.
4. The HCl molecule has a dipole moment of 3.4 × 10−30 𝐶. 𝑚, (i) what torque does the
molecule experience in an electric field of 4 × 106 𝑁/𝐶 when the axis of the dipole
makes an angle of 32° with the direction of the electric field? (ii) Calculate the maximum
torque experienced by each HCl molecule.
5. Point charges 𝑞1 and 𝑞2 of +12𝑛𝐶and−12𝑛𝐶, respectively, are placed 0.10 m apart.
This combination of two charges with equal magnitude and opposite sign is called an
electric dipole. Compute the electric field caused by 𝑞1 , the field caused by 𝑞2 , and the
total field:
(a) at point a;
(b) at point b; and
(c) at point c. (See figure 1). c
y

13.0 cm

Figure 1 13.0 cm

b q1 a q2

4.0 cm 6.0 cm 4.0 cm x

a) 𝐸⃗𝑎 = (9.8 × 104 𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 )𝑖; b) 𝐸⃗𝑏 = (−6.2 ×
104 𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 )𝑖; c) 𝐸⃗𝑐 = (4.9 × 103 𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 )𝑖.

6. Two identical charged spheres, each having a mass of 3 .00 × 10−2 kg, hang in
equilibrium as shown in the figure 2a The length L of each string is 0.150 m, and the
angle θ is 5.00o Find the magnitude of the charge on each sphere.
 Figure 2
7. Charges q1 and q2 are located on x axis, at distance a and b, respectively, from the origin
as shown in the figure 2b. (a) Find the component of the net electric field at point P, which
is at position (0, y). (b) Evaluate the electric field at point P in the special case that |q1| =
|q2 | and a = b. (c) Find the electric field due to the electric dipole when point P is a distance
y ≫ a from the origin.
8. Two 1.20-m non conducting wires meet at a right angle. One segment carries +2.50µC of
charge distributed uniformly along its length, and the other carries −2.50µC distributed
uniformly along it, as shown in Figure 3. (a) Find the magnitude and direction of the
electric field these wires produce at point P, which is 60.0 cm from each wire. (b) If an
electron is released at P, what are the magnitude and direction of the net force that these
wires exert on it?

Figure 3
9. Three charges are at the corners of an isosceles triangle as shown in Figure 4 (a). The
±5.00-𝜇𝐶 charges form a dipole. (a) Find the force (magnitude and direction) the -10.00-
𝜇𝐶 charge exerts on the dipole. (b) For an axis perpendicular to the line connecting the
 ±5.00-𝜇𝐶 charges at the midpoint of this line, find the torque (magnitude and direction)
exerted on the dipole by the - 10.00- 𝜇𝐶 charge.

Figure 4
10. A uniformly charged conducting sphere of 1.2 𝑚 diameter has a surface charge density of
8.1 𝜇𝐶/𝑚2. What is the total electric flux leaving out of the surface of that sphere?
11. Two-point charges 𝑞1 = +4.00 𝜇𝐶 and 𝑞2 = −2.00 𝜇𝐶 are located along the 𝑋 − 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠 at
𝑋 = 2 𝑚 and 𝑋 = 4 𝑚. What is the magnitude of electric flux due to this point charge
through spherical surfaces centered at the origin with radius 1.00 𝑚 and 5.00 𝑚?
12. Define the following terms:
(a) The linear charge density λ of the apparent line of charge
(b) The surface charge density σ
(c) The volume charge density
13. Suppose we have a ring of radius r, as in figure 4 (b)below, Positive charge is uniformly
distributed along the ring, with a linear charge density of λ (C/m) throughout its length.
(i) Calculate the electric field produced by the charge on the ring at a point P 2 on the
axis of the ring at a distance x from the plane of the ring.
(ii) If r = 15Cm and λ = 6.3 × 10−8 C/m, what field is produced at the point x=20 Cm?
14. Calculate the electric flux through the rectangle of sides 5 cm and 10 cm kept in the region
of a uniform electric field 100 N/C when the angle θ is 60°. Suppose θ becomes zero, what
is the electric flux?

Figure 5
15. A flat sheet of paper of area 0.250 𝑚2 is oriented
so that the normal to the sheet is at an angle of 60°
to a uniform electric field of magnitude 14 N/C.
(a) Find the magnitude of the electric flux through
 the sheet. (b) Does the answer to part (a) depend on the shape of the sheet? Why or why
not? (c) For what angle 𝜙 between the normal to the sheet and the electric field is the
magnitude of the flux through the sheet (i) largest? and (ii) Smallest? Explain your answers.
16. A charged ring has a radius of 2.2 m and a uniform linear charge density of 8.0 𝜇𝐶/𝑚. If
the distance from the center of the ring to point P is 10.0 m, calculate the electric field.
17. A uniformly charged ring of radius 15 cm has a total charge of 50 μC. Find the electric
field on the central perpendicular axis of the ring at: (a) 0 cm, (b) 1 cm, (c) 10 cm, and
(d) 100 cm. (e) What do you observe about the values you just calculated?
18. A non-conductive rod of length L has a total negative charge −Q that is uniformly
distributed along its length, see Fig. below. (a) Find the linear charge
density of the rod. (b) Use the coordinates depicted in the figure to prove that the
electric field at point P, a distance a from the right end of the rod, has the same
𝑘𝑄
form as the one given by Eq. 𝐸 = 𝑎(𝑎+𝐿) . (c) When P is very far from the rod, i.e.

𝑎 ≫ 𝐿, show that the electric field reduces to the electric field of a point charge
(i.e. the rod would look like a point charge). (d) If L = 15 cm, Q = 25μC, and
a = 20 cm, find the value of the electric field at P

Figure 6
19. A disk with radius 0.10 m is oriented with its normal unit vector 𝑛⃗at an angle of 30° to a
uniform electric field 𝐸⃗ with magnitude 2.0 × 103 𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 .
a) What is the electric flux through the disk if ∡(𝑛⃗, 𝐸⃗ ) = 30°?
b) What is the flux through the disk if it is turned so that its normal is perpendicular
to 𝐸⃗ ?
c) What is the flux trough the disk if its normal is parallel to 𝐸⃗ ?
20. Consider a circular plate of radius 12 cm. Its plane makes an angle of 30 ° with a uniform
electric field 𝐸⃗ = 450𝑖 𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 (see figure 7). What is the electric flux through the plate?
 Proposed answer:
y
𝜑𝐸 = 10.2𝑁 ⋅ 𝑚2 ⋅ 𝐶 −1 .
30°
𝐸⃗

x
Figure 7

21. Consider a square plate of length of 12 cm located in an xy-plane. What is the electric flux
⃗ )𝑁 ⋅ 𝐶 −1?
through the plate in a uniform electric field 𝐸⃗ = (70𝑖 + 90𝑘
22. A flat surface of area 3.20 m2 is rotated in a uniform electric field of magnitude E = 6.20
× 105 N/C. Determine the electric flux through this area (a) when the electric field is
perpendicular to the surface and (b) when the electric field is parallel to the surface.
23. A solid conductor with a cavity carries a total charge of + 7 nC. Within the cavity, insulated
from the conductor, is a point charge of – 5 nC. How much charge is on each surface (inner
and outer) of the conductor?
24. A point charge of 16 μC is placed at the center of a spherical shell conductor carrying an
electric charge of -8 μC.
a) Determine the electric field inside and outside the shell.
b) What are the charges on the inner and outer surfaces of the shell?
c) Draw the electric field lines.
25. A uniformly charged, straight filament 7.00 m in length has a total positive charge of 2.00
C. An uncharged cardboard cylinder 2.00 cm in length and 10.0 cm in radius surrounds the
filament at its center, with the filament as the axis of the cylinder. Using reasonable
approximations, find
(a) the electric field at the surface of the cylinder and
(b) the total electric flux through the cylinder.
26. A pyramid with horizontal square base, 6.00 m on each side, and a height of 4.00 m is
placed in a vertical electric field of 52.0 N/C. Calculate the total electric flux through the
pyramids four slanted surfaces.
27. Positive charge Q is distributed uniformly over each of two spherical volumes with radius
R. One sphere of charge is centered at the origin and the other at x=2R (figure 8). Find the
magnitude and direction of the net electric field due to these two distributions of charge at
the following points on the x-axis: (a) x=0; (b) x=R/2; (c) x=R; (d) x=3R.
28. Repeat problem 27, but now let the left-hand sphere have positive charge Q and let the
right-hand sphere have negative charge -Q.