Other Coordinate systems

Spherical, Polar, and Cylindrical

—mutually perpendicular directions
Spherical
—r distance from (0,0,0)
, polar angle (wrt z-axis)
azim. angle proj into x-y plane.
angle measured from x-axis
x = r sin cos
y = r sin sin
z = r cos => ^r , ^ , ^
to define a unique point in 3-d space
^
A = Ar ^r + A + A ^

Orthogonality Relations
r̂ × ˆ ˆ; ˆ×ˆ r̂; ˆ × r̂ ˆ

Relationships between spherical and cartesian coordinates

r̂ sin cos x̂ sin sin ŷ cos ẑ
ˆ cos cos x̂ cos sin ŷ sin ẑ

ˆ sin x̂ cos ŷ

Disadvantage to spherical coordinates - unit vectors change with position.

r̂ ˆ; r̂
sin ˆ

ˆ ˆ
r̂; cos ˆ

ˆ ˆ
0; sin r̂ cos ˆ
What about an increment of length
d r = dr; d = r d ; d = r sin d
^ + r sin d
d = dr ^r + r d ^

d = d r d d = r2 sin dr d d
da1 = ie, surface of sphere = d d = r2 sin d d
Vector operators in spherical coordinates.

r̂ ˆ1 ˆ 1
r r rsin

1 1 1 v
v (r 2 vr) (sin v )
r2 r rsin rsin

1 v 1 1 vr 1 vr
×v (sin v ) r̂ (rv ) ˆ (rv ) ˆ
rsin r sin r r r

Cylindrical Coordinates
—extension of plane polar coordinates
x = r cos y = r sin z=z
r = (x + y ) tan = y/x
2 2 ½

usual orthogonal relations

r̂× ˆ ẑ; ˆ ×ẑ r̂; ẑ×r̂ ˆ

Change position change orientation.

dr^ ^ and d^ ^r
d d
to locate a unique point in 3-d

A = A r ^r + A ^ + Az ^z
d r = dr ^r + d ^ + dz ^z
d = d d dz
differential on front cover.