- #1
Jonathan K
- 9
- 0
Homework Statement
Find the potential outside a charged metal sphere (charge Q, radius R) placed in an otherwise uniform electric field E0. Explain clearly where you are setting the zero of potential.
2. The attempt at a solution
So for this problem I figured I could exploit superposition and take the potential outside a neutral sphere in a uniform field in the z direction. This potential is V1(r, θ) = -E0(r - R3/r2)cosθ. Then I figured I could simply use the potential outside a uniformly charged sphere of charge Q which would be V2(r, θ) = 1/4πε0Q/r. Then the solution would become V(r, θ) = V1(r, θ) + V2(r, θ) where the zero would have to be along the xy plane where r →∞ since, that is where the potential vanishes by inspection. The only hangup I am having here is whether I am using superposition correctly. Is my argument valid here?