All Problems

Electric Capacitance, Energy of an Electric Field

Problem 3.128

There is an infinite straight chain of alternating charges \(q\) and \(-q .\) The distance between the neighbouring charges is equal to \(a\). Find the interaction energy of each charge with all the others. Instruction. Make use of the expansion of \(\ln (1+\alpha)\) in a power series in \(\alpha\)

Reveal Answer
W=2ln24πε0q2aW=-\frac{2 \ln 2}{4 \pi \varepsilon_{0}} \frac{q^{2}}{a}