Chapter 3:

Static Electric Fields

3-1. Overview
3-2. Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics in Free Space
3-3. Coulomb’s Law
3-4. Gauss’ Law and Applications
3.1 Overview
 Electrostatics is the study of the effect of electric
charges at rest, where the electric fields do not change
in time.

 Static electric fields in free space;

Conductors and dielectrics in static electric fields

 Deductive approach :
Divergence and curl of E  Gauss’s law 
Coulomb’s law
3.2 Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics
in Free Space
 Electric field intensity E is defined as the force per unit charge
that a very small stationary test charge experiences when it is
placed in a region where an electric field exists :

(3-1)

According to Eq. (3-1), the force F on a stationary charge q

in an electric field E:

(3-2)
3.2 Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics
in Free Space

 Two fundamental postulates of electrostatics in free space:

1. (3-3)

(v : the volume charge density [C/m3])

2. (3-4)
3.2 Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics
in Free Space
Taking the volume integral of both side of Eq. (3-3) over an
arbitrary volume V,

(3-5)

According to the Divergence theorem,

“Gauss’s law” (3-6)

where Q = the total charge contained in volume V bounded by surface S.

3.2 Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics
in Free Space
From Eq. (3-4), i.e., E = 0, integrating E over an open
surface and using Stokes’s theorem :

(3-7)

 The scalar line integral of the static electric field intensity

around any closed path vanishes
 The scalar product E  dl integrated over any path is the
voltage along that path :
“Kirchhoff’s voltage law” : The algebraic sum of voltage drops
around any closed circuit is zero.
3.2 Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics
in Free Space

Postulates of Electrostatics in Free Space

Differential Form Integral Form

v Q
 E 
0  E  ds  
S
0

 E  0  E  dl  0
C
 3-3 Coulomb’s Law
The electric field intensity E due to a single point charge q
at a spherical surface with radius R centered at the origin in free
space can be obtained by applying Gauss’s law, i.e., Eq.(3-6) :

 E  ds   a ER   a R ds 
q
0
R
S S

or

ER  ds  ER 4R 
S
 2
 q
0

(Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics, Addison-Wesley 1993, by David K. Cheng: p.77)

3-3 Coulomb’s Law

(3-8)

Eq. (3-8) tells that the electric field intensity of a positive

point charge is in the outward radial direction and has a
magnitude proportional to the charge and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance from the charge.
3-3 Coulomb’s Law

If the charge q is not at the origin of a coordinate system,

 
 q( R  R)
EP    3 (V / m)
40 R  R

(3-11)

Example 3-1

(Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics, Addison-Wesley 1993, by David K. Cheng: p.77)

 3-3 Coulomb’s Law
When a point charge q2 is placed in the field of another point
charge q1, a force F12 is experienced by q2 due to electric
field intensity E12 of q1 at q2 :

(3-13)

“Coulomb’s law”

The force between two point charges is proportional to the

product of the charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance of separation.
3-3.1 Electric Field Due to a System of
Discrete Charges

The total E field at a point is the vector sum of the fields

caused by all the individual charges :

(3-14)
3-3.2 Electric Field due to a Continuous
Distribution of Charge

The contribution of the charge v dv in a differential volume

element dv to the electric field intensity at the field point P :

(3-15)

(Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics, Addison-Wesley 1993, by David K. Cheng: p.82)

3-3.2 Electric Field due to a Continuous
Distribution of Charge

(3-16)

(v : the volume charge density [C/m3])

(3-17)

(s : the surface charge density [C/m2])

(3-18)

(s : the line charge density [C/m])

3-3.2 Electric Field due to a Continuous
Distribution of Charge

Example 3-3  As shown in the solution of example 3-3,

we can solve this problem using Eq.(3-18) in principle.
However, we’d better apply Gauss’s law as shown in
Examples 3-4, 3-5, and 3-6.
 3-4 Gauss’s Law and Applications
Gauss’s law :
+ Divergence theorem

(3-24)

 The total outward flux of the E field over any closed

surface in free space is equal to the total charge enclosed in
the surface divided by

Examples 3-4, 3-5, and 3-6