Statement
6.5.6. Find the electric pressure on the inner surface of a spherical capacitor charged to a potential difference
Solution
First, we prove the well‑known formula for the field pressure, which will be convenient to use in other problems:
For a conductor in vacuum, the field near its surface is related to the surface charge density by:
This is easily obtained from Gauss's theorem, remembering that inside the conductor the field is zero.
Immediately near the surface, an area element behaves like an infinite plane. Such a plane creates its own field of
From this we finally get:
In problem 6.4.5 the capacitance of a spherical capacitor is found:
Accordingly, the charge on each sphere is
The field near the inner sphere is