Interaction potential of two spherical macroparticles at constant surface potentials

Abstract

Electrostatic interaction between two spherical macroparticles at constant charges of the particles and constant surface potentials is studied. The interaction potential of two spherical macroparticles as a function of surface separation distance L is calculated using capacitance and potential coefficients. At small separation distances, the capacitance coefficients are defined by Russell’s asymptotical formulae; at large distances, the potential coefficients are calculated by approximate formulae obtained in this paper and, at intermediate distances, the capacitance and potential coefficients are found by smoothly joining the asymptotical and approximate formulae. A comparison of the data obtained in this paper with those of the previous papers is performed. It has been established that this technique provides the rather high precision in the interaction potential calculation for all interparticle distances.