PH108 – Electricity and Magnetism

Lecture 3
v Birds sitting on a high voltage cable Flying Deer? Eagle Drops Fawn On
Power Lines, Knocks Out Electricity
In Montana
Sunday, June 19, 2011

2
v A person standing on earth and lightning strikes nearby

What happens?

3
v Migration of pollen

4
v Walking of a Geico Lizard on the walls

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v The electromagnetism is the basis of almost all the physical processes
happening around us.

Ø  Approaches:

§  Deductive

Start from Maxwell equations and work out some special cases.

§  Inductive
Start from basic laws (evolved from experiments) and arrive at
Maxwell equations

6
v Electrostatics

Ø  Electrical charges

§  Electrical charges exist in two varieties: +ve and -ve

§  All members of one class repel and attract members of other class

Q1. If this is so, why electrons are not close to protons and protons
inside the nucleus are close to each other?

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v Electrostatics
Ø  Quantization of Charge
§  All experiments so far have shown that electric charge comes in
magnitude of e. This e is known as electronic charge as it was
first measured in connection with the electron.
e = (1.6021892 ± 0.0000046) ×10−19 coulombs
§  All charges in nature occur in integral multiples of e.

§  All elementary charged particles carry the same magnitude

of charge e.
However, quarks have fractional charges. But they are not free.

§  The occurrence of charges in discrete units is called

charge quantization.

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v Electrostatics
Ø  Conservation of Electric Charge
§  In all interactions, the total charge of an isolated system is constant.

§  This is known as law of conservation of charge.

u Example

§  Pair Production: γ → e+ + e−

§  Annihilation: e + e → γ +γ
+ −

238 234 4
§  Nuclear Alpha decay: 92
U→ 90
Th + He2

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v Coulomb’s Law
z

   q1 q2
r1 − r2
F = kq1q2   3
r1 − r2 
r1 
! 1 r2
# SI unit
k = " 4πε 0 O y
#
$ 1 Gaussian

x Phys. Rev. Lett. 26 (1971), 721

u Validity:

§  Must be point charges

§  Must be stationary with respect to each other

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v Validity of Coulomb’s Law
1
Ø  Let us assume that the force varies as
r 2+δ
Ø  Then put the limit on δ

Ø  In 1772, Cavendish put an upper limit. δ ≤ 0.02

Ø  After 100 years Maxwell put an upper limit. δ ≤ 5×10−5

Ø  In 1936, Plimpton and Lawton put an upper limit. δ < 2 ×10−9

Ø  In 1971, Williams, Faller and Hill put an upper limit.

δ < (2.7 ± 3.1) ×10−16

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v Validity of Coulomb’s Law

Ø  Plimpton and Lawton - 1936 δ < 2 ×10−9

Physical Review, 50 (1936) 1066

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v Validity of Coulomb’s Law

Ø  Williams, Faller and Hill – 1971 δ < (2.7 ± 3.1) ×10−16

Physical Review Letters, 26 (1971) 721

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v Validity of Coulomb’s Law

Ø  What is the length scale over which Coulomb’s law is valid?

Ø  Laboratory and Geophysical tests: 1 cm to 109 cm

Ø  Rutherford alpha-particle scattering: ~ 10 −11

cm

Ø  Even some careful analysis of experimental data: ~ 10 −13

cm

Hence, the inverse square Coulomb’s law is valid not only in the
classical domain but also valid in the quantum domain.

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v Coulomb’s Law: Assembly of charges qi!
! n ! !ʹ ! ! !
q r − ri q r − rʹ
Fq = ∑ qiʹ ⇒ Fq = ∫ dq ! ! 3
4πε0 i=1 ! !ʹ 3
4πε0 r − rʹ
r − ri
q
u For a distributed charge of charge density ρ

! ! !
q ! 3 r − rʹ
Fq = ∫ ρ ( rʹ)d rʹ ! ! 3 d 3r! = r!2 dr! sin θ !dθ !dφ !
4πε0 r − rʹ
!
u For charge distributed over a surface dqʹ = σ ( rʹ)daʹ


u For charge distributed in a line dq! = λ (r!)d !
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v Problem:
Ø  Find the force on a charge q lying on the z-axis above the centre of a
circular hole of radius a in an infinite uniformly charged flat plate
occupying the x-y plane, carrying a surface charge density σ.
z
q
u Cylindrical Coordinate:
z 2 + r !2 ! ! !
q ! 3 r − rʹ
Fq = ∫ ρ ( rʹ)d rʹ ! ! 3
4πε0 r − rʹ
O
r! dr! y
φ!
σ r!dφ !

x
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v Problem:
Ø  Find the force on a charge q lying on the z-axis above the centre of a
circular hole of radius a in an infinite uniformly charged flat plate
occupying the x-y plane, carrying a surface charge density σ.
z

u Cylindrical Coordinate:
z 2 + r !2 ! ! !ʹ
q r −r
Fq = ∫ σ daʹ
4πε0 ! !ʹ 3
r −r
O 
r! dr! y r = z ẑ

φ!
r!dφ !
r! = r!cos φ x̂ + r!sin φ ŷ
! !
r − rʹ = z ẑ − ( rʹcos φ x̂ + rʹsin φ ŷ)
x
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v Problem:
Ø  Find the force on a charge q lying on the z-axis above the centre of a
circular hole of radius a in an infinite uniformly charged flat plate
occupying the x-y plane, carrying a surface charge density σ.
z

u Cylindrical Coordinate:
! ! !ʹ
q r −r
Fq = ∫ σ daʹ
4πε0 ! !ʹ 3
r −r
O
r! dr! y   2 12
φ! r − r" = ( z + r" )
2

r!dφ !
da! = dr! r! dφ !
x
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v Problem:
Ø  Find the force on a charge q lying on the z-axis above the centre of a
circular hole of radius a in an infinite uniformly charged flat plate
occupying the x-y plane, carrying a surface charge density σ.
z

u Cylindrical Coordinate:

! q rʹ drʹ dφ ʹ z ẑ
Fq = ∫∫ σ 32
4πε0
(z 2
+ rʹ 2
)
O
r! dr! y ! qσ z ẑ
φ! Fq =
r!dφ ! 2ε0 z 2 + a 2

x
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v Electric Field

u Single charge q1 
! ! ! ! E
q1 r − r1 A
E( r ) = ! !3  B
4πε0 r − r1 r1 
r
u Many charges
! ! n ! ! O y
qi r − ri
E( r ) = ∑ ! !3
i=1 4πε 0 r − ri x

u If there is continuous charge distribution

! ! ! !
1 r − rʹ
E( r ) = ∫ dq ! !
4πε0 r − rʹ
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v Electric Field
! ! ! !
1 r − rʹ
u If there is continuous charge distribution E( r ) = ∫ dq ! ! 3
4πε0 r − rʹ

u Charges are spread out uniformly in a line with linear charge density λ
! ! ! !
1 ! r − rʹ
E( r ) = ∫ λ ( rʹ) dlʹ ! ! 3
4πε0 r − rʹ
u Charges are spread out uniformly over a surface/volume
! ! ! !
1 ! r − rʹ
E( r ) = ∫ σ ( rʹ) daʹ ! ! 3
4πε0 r − rʹ
! ! ! !
1 ! 3 r − rʹ
E( r ) = ∫ ρ ( rʹ)d rʹ ! ! 3
4πε0 r − rʹ
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v Electric Field due to a hemisphere of uniform charge density

u Only Ez component will survive z

because of symmetry  ρR
E Ez =
dEz = dE cosθ θ
4ε0
1 dq
= 2
cosθ y
4π ε 0 r O
ρ dτ
= 2
cosθ
4πε0 r x

1 ρ dτ
E z = ∫ dE z = ∫ 2
cosθ
4πε0 r
ρ r 2 dr sin θ dθ dφ 2 π ρ R π 2
=∫ 2
cosθ = ∫ dr ∫ sin θ cosθ dθ
4πε0 r 4πε0 0 0
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