Electrostatic charge distribution and capacitance of isolated cylinders and truncated cones in free space

The capacitance and charge distribution of an isolated hollow conducting cylinder of finite length are evaluated. The analysis is based on replacing the charged cylinder by a charged filament along its axis and on the moment method formulation. The numerical results are compared with those determined from the evaluation of the integral for the potential and data of R.F. Harrington (see Field Computation by Moment Method, Krieger Publishing Company, 1985). The method is used to evaluate the variation of capacitance and charge distribution of a hollow conducting truncated cone with its smaller radius. The validity of the analysis is established from a comparison of data for the smaller radius approaching the large radius when the truncated cone becomes a cylinder