The solution at revision #19200 of , by jzmicer. This is not the current version.

Statement

6.5.7. What charge can be placed per unit length of a long cylindrical shell of radius , if, when the gas inside it is pumped, it withstands a pressure ?

Solution

Essentially, we need to find the charge at which the electric field pressure becomes equal to .

The surface charge density is

where is the desired quantity.

Near the surface of the cylinder, the field is

This is trivially derived from Gauss's theorem.

In the previous problem, the formula for the field pressure was proved (it is, incidentally, equal to the energy density of the field):



Answer