HF Electromagnetic Waves

EEE313_L3

Lecture – 3

Instructor
Dr. Mustafa Habib Chowdhury

Electric Fields
IUB Dr. Mustafa Chowdhury 1
 Electric field distribution
EEE313_L3

Here we will consider the electric field due to

Point charge
 Positive or negative charge, Q
Volume charge
 Volume charge density, v
Line charge
 Line charge density, L
Sheet charge
 Surface charge density, S

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 Coulomb’s law
EEE313_L3

“Coulomb (French army engineer Col. Charles Coulomb) stated

that the force between two very small objects separated in a
vacuum or free space by a distance which is large compared to
their size is proportional to the charge on each and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them”.
Q1Q2
F k 2
R
where Q1 and Q2 are the positive or negative quantities of charge,
R is the separation, and k is a proportionality constant, in SI unit
which is given by
1
k
4 0
IUB Dr. Mustafa Chowdhury 3
 Coulomb’s law (contd..)
EEE313_L3

Constant 0 is called the permittivity of free space and has the

magnitude

1
 0  8.854 10 12
 109 F/m
36

Therefore, Coulomb’s law become

Q1Q2
F
4 0 R 2

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 Coulomb’s law (contd..)
EEE313_L3

The vector form of Coulomb’s law

Q1Q2
F a12
4 0 R12
2

where a12 is a unit vector in the direction of R12 and is given by

If Q1 and Q2 have like signs, the vector force F2 on Q2 is in the

same direction as the vector R12.
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 Example 1
EEE313_L3

Consider a charge of 310-4 C at P(1,2,3) and a charge of –10-4 C

at Q(2,0,5) in a vacuum. Find the magnitude of the vector force.

Solution:

So, the magnitude of the force is 30N.

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 Electric field intensity
EEE313_L3

Consider one charge (say Q1) fixed in position and move a

second charge (test charge Qt) slowly around so that there exists
everywhere a force on this second charge.

Therefore, according to Coulomb’s law, this second charge is

displaying the existence of a force field, which is given by
Q1Qt
Ft  a
4 0 R1t
2 1t

Electric field intensity is defined as the force per unit charge and
is given by
Ft Q1
E  a
Qt 4 0 R1t
2 1t

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 Field due to a volume charge distribution
EEE313_L3

Consider a region of space filled with a tremendous number of

charges separated by minute distances, which can be considered
as a volume charge density denoted by v.

The small amount of charge Q in a small volume v is

Q  v v

Therefore, the volume charge density denoted by v is

Q
 v  lim
v 0 v

Total charge is Q   dQ    v dv
vol vol

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 Example 2
EEE313_L3

Find the total charge

contained in the 2 cm
length of the electron
beam shown in figure
below. Given the
volume charge density
.  5 10 6 e 10 z C/m 3 .

5

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 Example 2 (contd..)
EEE313_L3

Solution:

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 Field of a line charge
EEE313_L3

Assume a straight line charge, with a uniform line charge density

L, extending along the z axis in a cylindrical coordinate system
from - to +, as shown in figure.

It is seen that we have only an

E component and it varies
only with .

For a line charge the electric

field intensity can be written as
L L
E a E 
2 0  2 0 

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 Field of a sheet of charge
EEE313_L3

Another basic charge configuration is the infinite sheet of charge

having a uniform density of S C/m2. Such a charge distribution
is commonly known as surface charge.

Let us place a sheet of

charge in the yz plane and
again consider symmetry.
We see first that the field
cannot vary with y or with
z, and hence only Ex is
present, and this
component is a function
of x alone.

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 Field of a sheet of charge (contd..)
EEE313_L3

Let us use the field of the infinite line charge by dividing the
infinite infinite sheet into differential-width strips as shown in
figure.

The line charge density, or

charge per unit length is

 L  S dy
The distance from this line
charge to the general point
P on the x axis is

R  x 2  y2

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 Field of a sheet of charge (contd..)
EEE313_L3

The contribution to Ex at P from this differential-width strip is

then
 S dy  S dy x 2  y2
dEx  cos  cos
2 0 x  y
2 2
2 0  x  y 
2 2
2

S xdy

2 0 x 2  y2

Therefore

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 Field of a sheet of charge (contd..)
EEE313_L3

If the point P were chosen on the negative x axis, then

S
Ex  
2 0

In vector form

S
E aN
2 0

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 Field of a sheet of charge (contd..)
EEE313_L3

If a second infinite sheet of charge, having a negative charge

density -S, is located in the plane x = a, we may find the total
field by adding the contribution of each sheet.

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 Next class
EEE313_L3

Electric
Flux Density

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