4.I.7B

Electromagnetism
Part IB, 2008

The energy stored in a static electric field E\mathbf{E} is

U=12ρϕdV,U=\frac{1}{2} \int \rho \phi d V,

where ϕ\phi is the associated electric potential, E=ϕ\mathbf{E}=-\nabla \phi, and ρ\rho is the volume charge density.

(i) Assuming that the energy is calculated over all space and that E\mathbf{E} vanishes at infinity, show that the energy can be written as

U=ϵ02E2dVU=\frac{\epsilon_{0}}{2} \int|\mathbf{E}|^{2} d V

(ii) Find the electric field produced by a spherical shell with total charge QQ and radius RR, assuming it to vanish inside the shell. Find the energy stored in the electric field.