  Studies on nanoscale materials merit careful development of an electrostatics
model concerning discrete point charges within dielectrics. The discrete charge
dielectric model treats three unique interaction types derived from an external
source: Coulomb repulsion among point charges, direct polarization between
point charges and their associated surface charge elements, and indirect
polarization between point charges and surface charge elements formed by other
point charges. The model yields the potential energy, U(N), stored in a general
$N$ point charge system differing from conventional integral formulations,
$1/2\int{\bm E}\cdot{\bm D}dV$ and $1/2\int\rho\Phi dV$, in a manner
significant to the treatment of few electron systems.
