All Problems

Electric Capacitance, Energy of an Electric Field

Problem 3.135

A charge qq is distributed uniformly over the volume of a ball of radius RR. Assuming the permittivity to be equal to unity, find: (a) the electrostatic self-energy of the ball; (b) the ratio of the energy W1W_{1} stored in the ball to the energy W2W_{2} pervading the surrounding space.

Reveal Answer
(a) W=3q2/20πε0RW=3 q^{2} / 20 \pi \varepsilon_{0} R (b) W1/W2=1/5W_{1} / W_{2}=1 / 5