Paper 4, Section I, D
Part IB, 2013
The infinite plane is earthed and the infinite plane carries a charge of per unit area. Find the electrostatic potential between the planes.
Show that the electrostatic energy per unit area (of the planes constant) between the planes can be written as either or , where is the potential at .
The distance between the planes is now increased by , where is small. Show that the change in the energy per unit area is if the upper plane is electrically isolated, and is approximately if instead the potential on the upper plane is maintained at . Explain briefly how this difference can be accounted for.