Example 23.

10: An infinite line charge or charged conducting

cylinder

Find the electric potential at a distance r from a very long line of charge or charged conducting
cylinder with linear charge density (charge per unit length) λ.

Solution

ˇ
ˇ
E = Er r
E = Er r
r r

R
charged wire
charged cylinder

Fig. 1. Calculating the electric potential of an infinitely long line of charge or infinitely long
charged conducting cylinder with radius R. In both cases, the electric field E  is radial and
depends only on the distance r from the line / cylinder axis.

 of a very long line of charge with linear

In Examples 21.11 and 22.6, we found that the electric field E
charge density λ has only a radial component Er and depends on the distance r from the line as

 = Er r̂ = 1 λ
E r̂. (1)
2π0 r
where r̂ is unit vector in the radial direction (see Fig. 1). We can find the electric potential by calculating
line integral of the electric field that corresponds to the work done by the electric forces per unit charge
when moving the charge between points a and b with potentials Va and Vb , respectively.
In a conservative electric field, potential difference Va − Vb between two points a and b can be calculated
as
 b
Va − Vb =  · dl
E (2)
a

The above integration can be done along any path connecting the two points a and b. Because of the radial
symmetry of the problem, we chose the radial path of integration for which dl = dr r̂. Using Eq. (1),
 b  b  rb  rb
1 λ λ dr λ
Va − Vb = Er dr (r̂ · r̂) = Er dr = dr = = [ln r]rrba =
a a ra 2π0 r 2π0 ra r 2π0
λ rb
= ln (3)
2π0 ra
Let us now determine what is a good choice of the zero-potential location. If we take point b at infinity
and set Vb = 0, as we did for the electric potential of a point charge, we find that also Va is infinite for any
finite radial distance ra :
λ ∞
Va = ln =∞
2π0 ra

1
This is not a useful way of defining zero-potential location for this problem! The difficulty arises from the
fact that the charge distribution itself extends to infinity.
As we discussed in the lecture, we can define the potential to be zero at any location we like. Thus, we
can select an arbitrary radial distance r0 and set the potential Vb = 0 at this location. Equation (3) then
transforms to
λ r0
Va ≡ V = ln (4)
2π0 r
where V is the electric potential at the radial distance r. For positive values of λ, electric potential V
decreases with increasing distance r.

Note
From Example 22.6, the expression for E,  with which we started (see Eq. (1)) also applies outside a long
charged conducting cylinder with charge per unit length λ (see Fig. 1). Hence, Eq. (4) also gives the potential
for such a cylinder, but only for values of r (the distance from the cylinder axis) equal to or greater than
the radius R of the cylinder. If we choose r0 to be the cylinder radius R, so that V = 0 when r = R, then
at any point for which r > R,
λ R
V = ln (5)
2π0 r
 = 0 and the potential has the same value (i.e. zero) as on the surface of
Inside the conducting cylinder, E
the cylinder.