PHYS 102 – General Physics II Midterm Exam 2

Duration: 120 minutes Saturday, 20 April 2024; 09:30

1. In the circuit shown, the capacitor is initially uncharged, and the switch S is
closed at time 𝑡 = 0.
𝑅 3𝑅
(a) (6 Pts.) Find the current supplied by the battery at 𝑡 = 0. +
ℰ
(b) (6 Pts.) What is the charge on the capacitor when it is fully charged? 𝐶
3𝑅 𝑅
(c) (13 Pts.) After the capacitor is fully charged the switch S is opened. How
long does it take for the capacitor to discharge until it has half of its initial
charge?

Solution: (a) At 𝑡 = 0, the capacitor is uncharged and hence, there is no potential drop across it. Therefore, it acts as a
short circuit. The equivalent resistance is

3𝑅 2 3𝑅2 3 ℰ 2ℰ
𝑅𝑒𝑞 = + = 𝑅 → 𝑖= = .
𝑅 + 3𝑅 𝑅 + 3𝑅 2 𝑅𝑒𝑞 3𝑅

(b) When the capacitor is fully charged no current passes through it. In this case, we have 𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 2𝑅, and the current
through each branch is 𝑖1 = 𝑖2 = ℰ ⁄4𝑅. Applying loop rule to the upper loop, we get

𝑄 ℰ 𝑄 3ℰ 1
−𝑉𝑅 − 𝑉𝐶 + 𝑉3𝑅 = 0 → −𝑅𝑖1 − + 3𝑅 𝑖2 = 0 → − − + =0 → 𝑄 = ℇ𝐶 .
𝐶 4 𝐶 4 2

(c) When the switch S is opened, the fully charged capacitor will discharge through the
equivalent resistence 𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 2𝑅. Therefore, 4𝑅

𝐶
𝑞(𝑡) = 𝑄 𝑒 −𝑡⁄𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝐶 → 𝑞(𝑡) = 𝑄 𝑒 −𝑡⁄2𝑅𝐶 .
4𝑅

At time 𝑡 = 𝑇 with the capacitor half charged, we have

1
𝑞(𝑇) = 2 𝑄 = 𝑄 𝑒 −𝑇⁄2𝑅𝐶 → 𝑇 = 2𝑅𝐶 ln 2 .
2. A steady current 𝐼 flows in a very long hollow cylndrical conductor of inner radius 𝑅1
and outer radius 𝑅2 . The current is distributed uniformly over the cross section of the 𝐼
conductor whose resistivity is 𝜌.
(a) (5 Pts.) What is the resistance per unit lenth of the conductor?
(b) (5 Pts.) What is the magnitude and the direction of the electric field in the conductor? 𝜌
(c) (15 Pts.) What is the magnitude 𝐵(𝑟) of the magnetic field inside the conductor for
𝑅1 < 𝑟 < 𝑅2 ?

Solution: (a)
𝜌𝐿 𝑅 𝜌
𝑅= → = .
𝐴 𝐿 𝜋(𝑅2 − 𝑅12 )
2

(b)
𝜌𝐼 𝐼𝑅
⃗ =𝜌𝐉 →
𝐄 𝐸= 2) = 𝐿 .
𝜋(𝑅22 − 𝑅1

Direction of the electric field is along the axis in the direction of the curent.

(c) Due to the cylindrical symmetry of the current distribution, magnetic field is tangent to circles centered at the
symmetry axis, and is constant on each circle. Therefore, choosing a circular Ampèrian loop with radius r centered at
the symmetry axis , we have

𝐼𝜋(𝑟 2 − 𝑅12 ) 𝜇0 𝐼 𝑟 2 − 𝑅12

∮𝐁 ⃗ = 𝜇0 𝐼enc →
⃗ ∙ 𝑑𝓵 (2𝜋𝑟)𝐵(𝑟) = 𝜇0 → 𝐵(𝑟) = ( ), 𝑅1 < 𝑟 < 𝑅2 .
𝜋(𝑅22 − 𝑅12 ) 2𝜋𝑟 𝑅22 − 𝑅12
 ̂.
⃗ = 𝐵𝑧 𝐤
3. The magnetic field in a region of space is given as 𝐁
(a) (12 Pts.) Determine the components of the magnetic force on a particle with charge 𝑞 at the instant the velocity of
̂.
the particle is 𝐯⃗ = 𝑣𝑥 𝐢̂ + 𝑣𝑧 𝐤
(b) (13 Pts.) If a long wire carrying a current 𝐼 in the positive y direction is placed on the y axis, what will be the force
per unit length on the wire?

Solution: (a)

𝐅𝐵 = 𝑞 𝐯⃗ × ⃗𝐁 → ̂ ) × (𝐵𝑧 𝐤
𝐅𝐵 = 𝑞 (𝑣𝑥 𝐢̂ + 𝑣𝑧 𝐤 ̂) → ̂ = −𝑞𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐣̂ .
𝐅𝐵 = 𝑞𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐢̂ × 𝐤

Components are 𝐹𝑥 = 0 , 𝐹𝑦 = −𝑞𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 , 𝐹𝑧 = 0 .

(b)

𝐅𝐵 𝐅𝐵
𝐅𝐵 = 𝐼 ⃗𝓵 × ⃗𝐁 → ̂) →
= (𝐼 𝐣̂) × (𝐵𝑧 𝐤 ̂ = 𝐼𝐵𝑧 𝐢̂ .
= 𝐼𝐵𝑧 𝐣̂ × 𝐤
ℓ ℓ
4. An infinite wire carrying a current I is bent 90 degrees so
𝑦
that it lies on the positive x and positive y axes as shown in the
figure.
(a) (7 Pts.) What is the direction of the magnetic field at the
point 𝑥 = −𝐿, 𝑦 = −𝐿?
𝐼
(b) (18 Pts.) What is the magnitude of the magnetic field at the
same point.
−𝐿 𝑥

Solution: (a) By the right hand rule we know that both

̂ ) direction
−𝐿
segments create magnetic field in the (−𝐤
(perpendicular to the page and inwards).

(b) Symmetry of the current with respect to the point (𝑥 = −𝐿, 𝑦 = −𝐿) means magnitude of the magnetic field
created by the two segments are equal at that point.
⃗ × (𝐫̂ − 𝐫̂ ′ )
𝜇0 𝐼 𝑑𝓵
𝑑 𝐅𝐵 =
4𝜋 |𝐫̂ − 𝐫̂ ′ |3
⃗ = −𝑑𝑦′ 𝐣̂ , 𝐫 = −𝐿 𝐢̂ − 𝐿 𝐣̂ , 𝐫′ = 𝑦 ′ 𝐣̂. Therefore
For the vertical section on the y axis we have 𝑑𝓵

𝐫̂ − 𝐫̂ ′ = −𝐿 𝐢̂ − (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )𝐣̂ , |𝐫̂ − 𝐫̂ ′ | = √𝐿2 + (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )2 ,

𝜇0 𝐼 (−𝑑𝑦′ 𝐣̂) × [−𝐿 𝐢̂ − (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )𝐣̂] 𝜇0 𝐼 𝐿𝑑𝑦′(− 𝐤̂)

𝑑 𝐅𝐵 = → 𝑑 𝐅𝐵 =
4𝜋 [𝐿2 + (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )2 ]3/2 4𝜋 [𝐿2 + (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )2 ]3/2

𝜇0 𝐼 ∞ 𝐿𝑑𝑦′(− 𝐤̂) 𝜇0 𝐼𝐿 ∞
𝑑𝑢
𝐅𝐵 = ∫ → 𝐅𝐵 = ̂ )∫
(− 𝐤
4𝜋 0 [𝐿2 + (𝐿 + 𝑦 ′ )2 ]3/2 4𝜋 𝐿 [𝐿2 + 𝑢2 ]3/2

The integral can be evaluated by using the substitution 𝑢 = 𝐿 tan 𝜃 , 𝑑𝑢 = 𝐿 sec 2 𝜃 𝑑𝜃

𝑑𝑢 1 1
∫ = 2 ∫ cos 𝜃 𝑑𝜃 = 2 sin 𝜃.
[𝐿2 2
+𝑢 ]3/2 𝐿 𝐿
Since
𝑢 𝑢
tan 𝜃 = → sin 𝜃 = ,
𝐿 √𝑢2 + 𝐿2
∞ ∞
𝑑𝑢 1 𝑢 1 1 𝜇0 𝐼 1
∫ = | = 2 (1 − ) → 𝐅𝐵 = ̂ ).
(1 − ) (− 𝐤
2 2
[𝐿 + 𝑢 ]3/2 2
𝐿 √𝑢2 + 𝐿2 𝐿 𝐿 4𝜋𝐿
𝐿 √2 √2

For both sections, the result is

𝜇0 𝐼 1
𝐅𝐵 = ̂ ).
(1 − ) (− 𝐤
2𝜋𝐿 √2