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The potential at infinity for a infinite large system is zero/constant, while the potential at infinity for a finite system is not zero/constant

Physics Asked on June 20, 2021

In my E&M lecture, the professor said infinitely large systems (infinite parallel plate, infinitely long line charge, etc.) have zero/constant potential at infinity. Meanwhile, finite dimension systems (as long as the system does not extend to infinity) do not necessarily have constant/zero potential at infinity. There might be changing potential at infinity.

Can anyone explain why?

One Answer

I'm guessing you got it backwards: for example, consider an infinite plate of charge in the $xy-$plane with a constant charge density $sigma$. The electric field in the upper half plane (i.e. for $z>0$) is given by $$mathbf{E} = frac{sigma}{2epsilon_0} mathbf{hat{z}},$$ which means its potential in this region is $$V = -frac{sigma z}{2epsilon_0},$$ which clearly blows up as $ztoinfty$. You could do a similar analysis for an infinite line of charge too, and it blows up as well (though it does so logarithmically).

Alternatively, consider a point charge, whose potential is $$V = -frac{1}{4piepsilon_0} frac{1}{r}.$$ This function goes to zero as $rtoinfty$.

Answered by Philip on June 20, 2021

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