Question

. Determine if approximate cylindrical symmetry holds for the following situations. State why or why not. (a) A 300-cm long copper rod of radius 1 cm is charged with 500 nC of charge and we seek electric field at a point 5 cm from the center of the rod. (b) A 10-cm long copper rod of radius 1 cm is charged with 500 nC of charge and we seek electric field at a point 5 cm from the center of the rod.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) Yes

b) No

Explanation:

In the first case, part a, yes we can say for certainty that cylinderical symmetry holds. Why so? You may ask. This is because from the question, we are told that the length of the rod is 300 cm. And this said length is longer than the distance to the point from the center of the rod, which is 5 cm.

In the second half of the question, I beg to disagree that cylindrical symmetry holds. Again, you may ask why, this is because the length of the rod in this case, is having the same order of magnitude as the distance to the center of the rod. Thus, it is not symmetrical.