CPE 331– Week 4

Electrostatics:
Coulomb forces and Electric field
intensity
Dr. Nasir Faruk
Dept. of Telecommunication Sci.
University of Ilorin

1
Course content/Lecture Schedule
Lect. No. Date Topic
1 Week 1 Course Administration and Review of Vector Algebra
2 Week 2 Vector Calculus
3 Week 3 Divergence and Divergence theorem
4 Week 4 Electrostatics: Coulomb forces and Electric field intensity
5 Week 5 (Test 1) Electrostatic field: Work, Energy and Potential
6 Week 6 Electrostatic Field: Current density and Conductors
7 Week 7 Magneto static: Ampere’s Law and Magnetic Field
8 Week 8 Maxwell’s Equations and Boundary Conditions
9 Week 9 Wave Propagation : Waves in Vacuum, non conductive and conductive
10 Week 10 (Test 2) Reflection and Refraction of Plane waves
11 Week 11 Introduction to Wave guides
12 Week 12 MATLAB Simulation of Electromagnetic Materials
13 Week 13 General Course Revision
PROBLEM SETS
P.S Topic Date Duration
No. Assigned
1 Vector Calculus Week 2 1 Week
2 Divergence and Divergence theorem Week 3 1 week
2 Maxwell’s Equations and Boundary Conditions Week 8 1 Week
4 Wave Propagation : Waves in Vacuum, non conductive and conductive Week 9 1 week
5 Reflection and Refraction of Plane waves Week 10 1 week

2
Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields

• Electromagnetics is the study of the effect

of charges at rest and charges in motion.
• Some special cases of electromagnetics:
– Electrostatics: charges at rest
– Magnetostatics: charges in steady motion (DC)
– Electromagnetic waves: waves excited by
charges in time-varying motion

3
 Coulomb’s Law

a) form

F  kq1q2 /r 2
 F  kq1q2 /r 2

b) Units
Two possibilities:
- define k and derive q (esu)
- define q and derive k (SI) √

“Define” coulomb (C) as the quantity of charge that
produces a force of 9 x 109 N on objects 1 m apart.

F  kq
9 10 N 9
1q2 /r/(1m)
k(1C) 2 2 2

 k  9 10 N 9
 • For practical reasons, the coulomb is defined using current
and magnetism giving
k = 8.988 x 109 Nm2/C2
• Permittivity of free space

1
0   8.84 1012 C2 /Nm2
4k
1 q1q2
Then F
40 r 2

Reciprocity : requires that an equal but oppositely directed force F12
is exerted on q2 by q1; that is


c) Fundamental unit of charge e = 1.602 x 10-19 C
d) Superposition of electric forces
The force on a charge q1 due to n-1 other charges
q2, q3, q4....qn is the vector sum of the individual
forces:

F2 F3 F
q2
q1
q3 F1
Net force on q: F = F1 + F2 + F3
qn
n
q1q2 q1q3 q1 qk
F
4 o R 21
2
a21 
4 o R 31
2
a31  ...
4 o
 2 k1
k  2 Rk 1
a
 Electric Field Intensity
Suppose the charge Qt is
sufficiently small so as not
to disturb significantly the
field of the fixed point
charge Q.
Then the electric field
intensity E due to Q is
defined as force per unit
charge on Qt: F Q
E  a
Qt 4 o r 2 r Units: N/C
b) Field due to a point charge
q0 F

Q
r

Qq0
Coulomb’s law: Fk 2
r
Q
Electric Field: E  F /q0  k 2
r

r kQ
E  2 rˆ
r
 c) Superposition of electric fields

Net field is the vector sum of fields from each charge

q1 E3

q2 E2 E
P
q3 E1

Net field at P: E = E1 + E2 + E3
 Electric Field Lines (lines of force)
a) Direction of force on positive charge

radial for point charges out for positive (begin) in for negative
(end)
 Applications of lines-of-force model
a) Dipole : a pair of equal and oppositely charged or
magnetized poles separated by a distance.
b) two positive charges
 Charge Distribution
• Volume Charge:
 charge density is a measure of electric charge per unit volume of
space, in one, two or three dimensions. More specifically: the
linear, surface, or volume charge density is the amount of
electric charge per unit length, surface area, or volume,
respectively
 When the charge is distributed throughout a specified volume, each
charge element contributes to the electric field at an external point.
A summation or integration is then required to obtain the total field

dQ

dV
F dQ
dE  d ( )  a
Qt 4 o R 2 r

dQ 
 a  dV
4 o R 2 r
4 o R 2
Infinite plane of charge
+
+ E
+ + Field is uniform and constant to ∞,
+ in both directions
+ +
+
+ +
+ q, A Electric field is proportional to the line
+
density, and therefore to the charge
density, =q/A

By comparison with the 

field from a point charge, E
we find: 2 0
e) Parallel plate capacitor (assume separation small compared to the size)

E+ E+ E+
+ -
+ -
E- E- E-
+ -

EL=0 + E=2E+ - ER=0

+ -
+ -

• Strong uniform field between: E   / 0

• Field zero outside