Hi, Haruspex. Do we have such a situation that allow for the calculation of the integral in this problem in closed form?
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Thanks for the help!
No numbers were given unfortunatelly.
Can I conclude, by symmetry, that the total force on the upper ring is just
$$F_z = Q \frac{\lambda R d}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \int_{0}^{2 \pi} \frac{d\theta}{[d^2+2R^2 (1-\cos{\theta})]^{3/2}},$$
because the force due to each of the...
The problem is symmetric around the z axis, thus the force must be in the z direction only.
I tried dividing both rings into differential elements, then integrating through the upper ring to get the z component of the total force on the upper ring due to a differential element of the lower ring...
My suggestion would be Vectors, Tensors and the Basic Equations of Fluid Mechanics by Rutherford Aris, which has the advantage of teaching both things and also being very cheap.