Chapter 24, Problem 28P

You are a coach for the Physics Olympics team participating in a competition overseas. You are given the following sample problem to present to your team of students, which you need to solve very quickly: A person is standing on the midline of a soccer field. At one end of the field, as shown in Figure P24.28, is a letter D, consisting of a semicircular metallic ring of radius R and a long straight metal rod of length 2R, the diameter of the ring. The plane of the ring is perpendicular to the ground and perpendicular to the midline of the field shown by the broken line in Figure P24.28. Because of an approaching lightning storm, the semicircular ring and the rod become charged. The ring and the rod each attain a charge Q. What is the electric potential at point P, which is at a position x along the midline of the field, measured from the center of the rod, due to the letter D? Think quickly and use all resources available to you, which include your physics textbook: yon are in competition!

Figure P24.28