Vector Transformation

Components in the primed frame are linearly related to

the components in the unprimed frame. Any tuple of
numbers which follow the above linear transformation
law is called a vector

𝑽′𝒊𝒌 = 𝒂𝒊𝒋 𝒂𝒌𝒍 𝑽𝒋𝒍 −−−→𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝟐, 𝟑𝟐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔

𝑽′𝒊𝒌𝒑
= 𝒂𝒊𝒋 𝒂𝒌𝒍 𝒂𝒑𝒒 𝑽𝒋𝒍 𝒒−−→𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝟑, 𝟑𝟑 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔

𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑽′ = 𝑽 → 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝟎, 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒓

Vector operators

Vector field and Scalar field

It is associated with every point in a region of space, there is
some physical quantity, and then that quantity is field.

For example if a heater is placed in a room then, associated

with every point in the room there is a temperature, i. e.,
there is a temperature field present in the room and heater is
the source of the heat. This is a scalar field.

If instead a fan is switched on , then on each point there is a

wind velocity. We have a velocity field. This is a vector field.

Note that there are any numbers of physical quantities which

are not fields. Example velocity of a car is localized on the car
and is undefined at other points. Hence it is not a field
• Gradient
• Divergence
• Curl of a Vector field
 Suppose, we have a function of three variables- Say, the
temperature 𝑇 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 in a room at a spot and depend
on three variables
 The derivative suppose to tell us how fast the function
varies, if we move a little distance
This depends on what direction we move

 If we move straight up The temperature will probably increases

fairly rapidly
 If we move horizontally  It may not change at all

 The question is “ How fast does T vary?”

 Answer: Infinite number answers, one for each direction we
might choose to explore
Consider the rotation of a coordinate system, coordinates
of a point 𝑥, 𝑦 transforms to 𝑥 ′ , 𝑦 ′
𝑥 ′ = cos 𝜃 𝑥 + sin 𝜃 𝑦
𝑦 ′ = − sin 𝜃 𝑥 + cos 𝜃 𝑦

𝒅𝒙′ 𝒅𝒙′
= 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 = 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜽
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒚′ 𝒅𝒚′
= −𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜽 = 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚
𝒅𝒙′ 𝒅𝒙′
𝒙′ = 𝒙+ 𝒚
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚

𝒅𝒚′ 𝒅𝒚′
𝒚′ = 𝒙+ 𝒚
𝒅𝒙 𝒅𝒚
𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟏 = 𝒙𝟐 ; 𝒚 = 𝒙𝟐 ; 𝒛 = 𝒙𝟑

′ ′
𝒅𝒙𝟏 𝒅𝒙𝟏
𝒙′𝟏 = 𝒙𝟏 + 𝒙𝟐
𝒅𝒙𝟏 𝒅𝒙𝟐
′ ′
𝒅𝒙𝟐 𝒅𝒙𝟐
𝒙′𝟐 = 𝒙𝟏 + 𝒙𝟐
𝒅𝒙𝟏 𝒅𝒙𝟐

𝒙′𝟏 = 𝒂𝟏𝟏 𝒙𝟏 + 𝒂𝟏𝟐 𝒙𝟐

𝒙′𝟐 = 𝒂𝟐𝟏 𝒙𝟏 + 𝒂𝟐𝟐 𝒙𝟐
𝒙′𝒊 = 𝒂𝒊𝒋 𝒙𝒋

𝝏𝒙𝒊
𝒂𝒊𝒋 =
𝝏𝒙𝒋
Suppose a physical quantity does not change it direction in
any rotated frame then it is a scalar
If 𝝋 is a scalar point function, then it should obey the law
𝝋 𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 = 𝝋′ 𝒙′ , 𝒚′ , 𝒛′
𝝋 𝒙𝟏 , 𝒙𝟐 , 𝒙𝟑 = 𝝋′ 𝒙′𝟏 , 𝒙′𝟐 , 𝒙′𝟑

𝝏𝝋 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝒙′𝟏 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝒙′𝟐 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝒙′𝟑

= ′ + ′ + ′
𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟑 𝝏𝒙𝟏

𝝏𝝋 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝝋′

= 𝒂𝟏𝟏 ′ + 𝒂𝟐𝟏 ′ + 𝒂𝟑𝟏 ′
𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝏𝒙𝟑

𝝏𝝋
is a linear combination of similar quantities in the primed
𝝏𝒙𝟏
frame and coefficients as the direction cosines. These
quantities follow the defining role for vector transformation
 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝝋′ 𝝏𝝋′
In other words, the triplet , ′ , ′ constitutes a 3D vector
𝝏𝒙′𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝏𝒙𝟑
The corresponding vector is
𝝏𝝋′ ′ 𝝏𝝋′ ′ 𝝏𝝋′ ′
𝒊 + 𝒋 + 𝒌
𝝏𝒙′𝟏 𝝏𝒙′𝟐 𝝏𝒙′𝟑

𝝏𝝋′ ′ 𝝏𝝋′ ′ 𝝏𝝋′ ′

′ 𝒊 + ′ 𝒋 + ′ 𝒌
𝝏𝒙𝟏 𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝏𝒙𝟑

𝝏𝝋 𝝏𝝋 𝝏𝝋
𝒊+ 𝒋+ 𝒌
𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛

𝝏 𝝏 𝝏
𝒊+ 𝒋+ 𝒌 𝜑
𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛
𝛻𝜑, Del , grad𝜑
𝝏 𝝏 𝝏
𝛁≡ 𝒊 + 𝒋 + 𝒌
𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛
Consider a surface over which 𝜑 is a constant. Suppose a
displacement 𝑑𝑟 is made in the region with the scalar field 𝜑

𝜕𝜑 𝜕𝜑 𝜕𝜑
Then 𝛻𝜑 ∙ 𝑑𝑟 = 𝑑𝑥 + 𝑑𝑦 + 𝑑𝑧 = 𝑑𝜑
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧
Since 𝜑 is constant over the plane, 𝑑𝜑 = 0

𝛻𝜑 ∙ 𝑑𝑟 = 0

𝛻𝜑 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑟 ie 𝛻𝜑 is perpendicular to an
equipotential surface
Divergence
• Divergence of a vector function is scalar
• Divergence is a measure of how much the
vector V spreads out (diverges) from the
point in question
• There is a different vector associated with
every point in space
 Type equation here.

𝟎 ≤ 𝒓 ≤∝
0≤ 𝜽 ≤ 𝝅
𝟎 ≤ ∅ ≤ 𝟐𝝅
 The line element in Cartesian and spherical polar coordinate systems (here
the line element is denoted as ‘ds’.

𝑑𝑠 = 𝑑𝑥𝑖 + 𝑑𝑦𝑗 + 𝑑𝑧𝑘

𝑑𝑠 = 𝑑𝑟𝑟 + 𝑟 𝑑𝜃𝜃 + 𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃𝑑∅ ∅
1, 𝑟, 𝑟 sin 𝜃 → 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠
𝑖, 𝑗, 𝑘 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦

𝑟, 𝜃, ∅ orthogonal locally –r at one point need not be

orthogonal to 𝜃 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡

Cartesian system surfaces with constant coordinate

values are planes
Spherical polar system, curved surfaces, r=constant is a
sphere
𝜃 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑒
Area elements in spherical polar
coordinates
𝑟 𝑑𝜃 𝑑𝑟 ∅
𝑟 𝑑𝜃 𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 𝑑∅ 𝑟
𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 𝑑∅ 𝑑𝑟 𝜃
 Cylindrical polar co-ordinates
z

y
𝜑 𝑑𝜑
𝝆𝒅𝝋
𝝆

𝟎≤𝝆≤∞ x
−∞ ≤ 𝒛 ≤ +∞
𝟎 ≤ ∅ ≤ 𝟐𝝅
Scale factors (𝟏, 𝝆, 𝟏)
𝝆 – constant then, describes a cylinder
z constant/𝝋 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆
General expression

ℎ1 , ℎ2 , ℎ3 → 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠
𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 → 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠
Cartesian Coordinates (x,y,z)