Q.State Gauss' law. Derive an expression for the electric field due to an infinite line of charge. OR Give the principle, construction and working of Van de Graff's generator.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Gauss's law relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the charge enclosed; applying it with a cylindrical Gaussian surface around an infinite line of charge gives . The Van de Graaff generator uses electrostatic induction on a moving belt to accumulate huge charge (and potential) on an outer dome.
Part 1 — Gauss's Law and field due to an infinite line charge
Gauss's Law states that the total electric flux through any closed (Gaussian) surface is equal to times the total charge enclosed by that surface:
Derivation for an infinite line of charge:
Consider an infinitely long straight wire with uniform linear charge density (charge per unit length). By symmetry, the electric field at any point must point radially outward (or inward, if ), perpendicular to the wire, and its magnitude depends only on the perpendicular distance from the wire.
Choose a Gaussian surface in the shape of a right circular cylinder of radius and length , coaxial with the line charge.
Flux through the two flat circular end caps is zero, since is parallel to these surfaces (perpendicular to their normal). Flux passes only through the curved lateral surface, where is everywhere radial and of constant magnitude , parallel to the area vector:
Charge enclosed by this cylinder: .
By Gauss's law:
The field falls off as , and points radially away from (or towards) the line, independent of .
Part 2 (OR) — Van de Graaff Generator
Principle: It is based on (i) the fact that charge given to a hollow conductor is transferred entirely to its outer surface, however much charge is already present there (so charge can be added indefinitely from inside), and (ii) electrostatic induction / corona (spray) discharge from a sharp point, allowing continuous charge transfer.
Construction: It consists of a large hollow conducting spherical shell (dome) mounted on an insulating stand, an endless insulating belt running over two pulleys (one near the bottom, one inside the dome), driven by an electric motor, and two sets of metallic comb-shaped conductors — a spray comb (near the bottom pulley, connected to a high-voltage source) and a collecting comb (inside the dome, connected to the inner surface of ).
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