Coulombs Law

and Electric Field

Intensity

Notes

Lecture 8
Coulombs Law and Electric Field
Intensity
Text:

Line Charge

EE261 Electromagnetic Theory

March 12, 2015

Dr. Mubeen Masud

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
8.1

Agenda

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Line Charge

Line Charge

8.2

Notes

Field of a Line Charge

Upto this point we have considered point charges and a
volume charge distribution with density v C/m3 . Let us
assume a filament like volume charge distribution such as
a conductor with very small radius then it is convenient to
treat it as a line charge distribution with density L C/m.
Let us assume a line charge distribution extending along
z axis in a cylindrical coordinate system from to as
shown below:

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Notes

Line Charge

8.3

Field of a Line Charge

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Let us find E resulting from this line charge. For this

symmetry should always be considered first to determine:
with which coordinates the field does not vary.
which components of the field are not present.
From figure it can be concluded that:
while keeping and z same and moving around the
line charge (by varying ) does not effect he field i.e.
no field component may vary with .
while keeping and same and moving up and
down along the line charge (by varying z) does not
change the problem either as line charge always
recedes to infinite in both directions i.e. no field
component may vary with z either.
while keeping and z same and varying distance
from line charge (by varying ) does change the
problem following Coulombs law. The field becomes
weaker by increasing i.e field is a function of .
1
2

Line Charge

8.4

Notes

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

For field components, let us analyze incremental length of
line charge which acts as a point charge:
Following Coulombs law no element of charge
produces a component of electric field intensity i.e.
E is zero.
Following Coulombs law each incremental element
of line charge produces component of electric field
intensity and it is fuction of i.e. E is non-zero.
Following Coulombs law each incremental element
of line charge produces z component of electric field
intensity and it is fuction of z. However since line
charge is symmetric around z = constant plane
containing point at which field is required. It means
for every incremental charge above this plane there
is same incremental charge below the plane so the
collective contribution of both will cancel each other
meaning whole z component of E will become zero
i.e. Ez is also zero.

Line Charge

8.5

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

Therefore it can be concluded that the field E due to a line

charge extending from to along z axis has only E
component and it varies with .
For simplicity choose P(0, y , 0) as point on y axis at
which Field is to be determined. Let incremental charge
dQ = L dz 0 then we have:
dE =

L dz 0 (r r0 )
40 |r r0 |3

Line Charge

(1)

where
r = y ay = a
r0 = z 0 az
r r0 = a z 0 az
= dE =

L dz 0 (a z 0 az )
40 (2 + z 02 )3/2

Notes

(2)

8.6

Notes

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

Notes

Since only E component is present so we can simplify:

L dz 0
40 (2 + z 02 )3/2

dE =
and

E =

(3)

L dz 0
40 (2 + z 02 )3/2

(4)

Line Charge

Integrating using table or by substitution z 0 = cot we

have:
!
1
z0
L
p
(5)
E =

40
2 2 + z 02

and
E =

L
20

(6)
8.7

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

Let us ignore the symmetry of the problem and choose
P(, , z) as point at which field E is to be determined as
shown below:

Line Charge

r = a + zaz
r0 = z 0 az
R = r r0 = a + (z z 0 )az
q
R = 2 + (z z 0 )2

(7)
8.8

Notes

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

a + (z z 0 )az
aR = p
2 + (z z 0 )2
Z
L dz 0 [a + (z z 0 )az ]
= E =
2
0 2 3/2
40 [ + (z z ) ]
Z
dz 0 a
L
=
2
0 2 3/2
40
[ + (z z ) ]

Z
0
0
(z z )dz az
+
2
0 2 3/2
[ + (z z ) ]

(8)
Line Charge

Before solving integrals like in (8) one should be careful

to notice that whether the unit vector is constant w.r.t
integrand or not. Since for this case a and az are not
function of z 0 so we can take them out of integrals.
 Z
L
dz 0
E=
a
2
0 2 3/2
40
[ + (z z ) ]

(9)
Z
0
0
(z z )dz
+ az
2
0 2 3/2
[ + (z z ) ]

("

1
(z z 0 )
a 2 p

2 + (z z 0 )2
# )
1

+ az p
2 + (z z 0 )2


L
2
L
=
a + az (0) =
a
40

20

8.9

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

L
E=
40
"

Notes

(10)
Line Charge

Again we got the same answer as in (6) but since we

ignored the symmetry of problem so integration was more
complex. Look before you integrate.
From (10) we can note that field falls off inversely with
distance to the charges line, as compared to point charge,
where the field decreased with the square of the distance.
8.10

Notes

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

Notes

If line charge is not along z axis but parallel to z axis at

certain x and y as shown below:

Line Charge

Then will be replaced with

p radial distance between line
charge and point P, R = (x 6)2 + (y 8)2 and a with
aR . Thus
E=

L
p
aR
20 (x 6)2 + (y 8)2

(11)
8.11

Coulombs Law
and Electric Field
Intensity

Field of a Line Charge

In (11)
(x 6)ax + (y 8)ay
R
= p
|R|
(x 6)2 + (y 8)2
L (x 6)ax + (y 8)ay
= E =
20 (x 6)2 + (y 8)2
aR =

(12)
Line Charge

It can again be noted that field is not function of z.

8.12

Notes