Soft Blue Kudu
Soft Blue Kudu
Soft Blue Kudu
∼ 500: Greeks observed something attracted very light objects and named
them electron, those attracting only iron were named magnesia.
1730: C.F. du Fay proposed two types of charge: positive and negative.
1786: Priestly, Cavendish and Coulomb proposed inverse square law of
electrostatics.
1820: Oersted and Ampere demonstrated relation between electricity and
magnetism by deflecting magnetic needle with electric current.
1831: Faraday discovered magnetic induction.
1873: Maxwell theoretically explain all electric and magnetic phenomena
observed till date through Maxwell’s equations.
1905: Einstein proposed special theory of relativity demanding invariance
of Maxwell’s equations in all inertial frames.
Electrostatics
Source charge(s) : stationary point charge, system / distribution of point
charges or continuous distribution of charge responsible for electric field.
• Position vector ~r 0 of the source charge is called source coordinate.
Test charge : charge that probes the electric field, must be weak enough
so as not to disturb the original source charge distribution or modify its
electric field in any significant way.
• Position vector ~r of the test charge is called field coordinate.
Postulates of electrostatics
Coulomb’s law : In vacuum, the force on a test charge Q due to a
single point charge q at rest and |~r| = |~r − ~r 0 | distance away is
1 qQ
~ =
F r̂ where 0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C 2 /N − m2
4π0 r2
Superposition principle : Force on test charge Q due to all other
charges is equal to vector sum of forces due to individual charges and
completely unaffected by presence of other charges,
X
~ = F
F ~1 + F
~2 + . . . ≡ ~m
F
m
Electric field : Force of source charge(s) on unit test charge Q = 1
~ (~r ) ≡ 1 X qm ~ = QE
~
E r̂m ⇒ F
4π0 m r2m
1 h
= n̂ 2πRλ
4π0 (h2 + R 2 )3/2
1 2πRλ
~ (h)
E = n̂ h ∝ n̂ h
h→0 4π0 R 2
1 2πRλ n̂
~ (h)
E
= n̂ ∝ 2
h→∞ 4π0 h2 h
~ (h)
dE
R
=0 ⇒ ~ (h)
E when h = √
dh max 2
Example : Find electric field at h above the center of a
flat circular disc of radius R, carrying a uniform surface
charge σ. Explore the limits h, R → ∞.
We borrow the result of electric field of a uniformly charged ring and use
it for a ring of radius and thickness r , dr ,
~ (h) 1 2πr dr σ h
dE = n̂
4π0 (h2 + r 2 )3/2
R
2πσh R
Z
~ (h) r dr 2πσh 1
E = n̂ = n̂ −√
4π0 0 (h2 + r 2 )3/2 4π0 h2 + r 2 0
2πσh 1 1
= n̂ −√
4π0 h h2 + R 2
σ
~ (h)
E = n̂ constant
R→∞ 20
" −1/2 #
R2
2πσh 1 1
~ (h)
E = n̂ − 1+ 2
h→∞ 4π0 h h h
R2 1 πR 2 σ
2πσh 1
= n̂ 1− 1− 2 = n̂
4π0 h 2h 4π0 h2
~ is a special kind of vector – it
Electrostatic potential : Electric field E
~
is irrotational i.e. ∇ × E (~r ) = 0.
~r 1 1 3 1
∇× =∇ × ~r + ∇ × ~r = − 5 ~r × ~r + 3 · 0 = 0
r3 r3 r3 r r
Please note, that the curl is calculated at the field point. From Stoke’s
~ (~r ) around any closed loop is zero
theorem it follows the line integral of E
I Z ~r
~ · d~l = 0 ⇒
E V (~r ) ≡ − ~ · d~l
E
O
Since V (~p2 ) − V (~p1 ) = dV = ∇V · d~l , and true for any ~p1 , ~p2 , we have
Z ~
p2 Z ~
p2
− ~ · d~l = −
E ∇V · d~l ⇒ ~ (~r ) = −∇V (~r )
E
~
p1 ~
p1
From vector calculus, we know that
1 r̂ 1 q 1 q ~ (~r )
∇ = − 2 ⇒ −∇ = r̂ = E
r r 4π0 r 4π0 r 2