ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS THEORY

Chapter 3
Static Electric Fields-Part 2

Textbook : Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics,

David K. CHENG

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Material Media in Static Electric Field
 The electromagnetic constitutive parameters of a material medium are
 Electrical permittivity 𝜖
 Electrical permeability μ
 Conductivity 𝜎

 If the materials are :

 Homogenous, then constitutive parameters do not vary from point to point
 Isotropic, then constitutive parameters are independent of direction

 Materials according to their electrical properties are classified as follows :

 Conductors
 Semiconductors
 Insulators (or dielectrics).

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 Conductors
 A conductor has a large number of loosely attached electrons in the
outermost shells of the atoms.
 When external electric field is applied, the electrons move from one atom to
the next in the opposite direction of applied field. Their movement yields
the conduction current :
J = E (Point form of Ohm’s law)
 Most metals belong to this group.
 Perfect conductor: σ = ∞ and then E = 0 regardless of J.
 Perfect dielectric: σ = 0 and then J = 0 regardless of E.

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 Conductors in Static Electric Field

 Assume that some positive (or negative) charges are introduced in the
interior of a good conductor. An electric field will be set up in the
conductor, the field exerting a force on the charges and making them move
away from one another. This movement will continue until all the charges
reach the conductor surface and redistribute themselves in such a way that
both the charge and the field inside vanish. Hence,

 When there are no free charges in the interior of a conductor (v = 0), E
must be zero. Because, according to Gauss's law, the total outward electric
flux through any closed surface inside the conductor vanishes.

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Conductors (cont.)

 Hence, in the interior of a conductor under static conditions, both free charge and
electric field intensity vanish.
 Under static conditions, the electric field E on a conductor surface is everywhere
normal to the surface.
 This means, the surface of a conductor is an equipotential surface under static
conditions. In fact, since E = 0 everywhere inside a conductor, the whole conductor
has the same electrostatic potential.

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 The figure above shows an interface between a conductor and free space. Consider
the contour abcda, which has width ab = cd = w and height bc = da= h. Sides ab
and cd are parallel to the interface. letting h  0, and noting that E in a conductor
is zero, we obtain

 or

 which means that the tangential component of the E field on a conductor surface
is zero under static conditions.

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 In order to find En, the normal component of E at the surface of the conductor, we
construct a Gaussian surface in the form of a thin pillbox with the top face in free
space and the bottom face in the conductor where E = 0. Then, we obtain

 or

 Hence, the normal component of the E field at a conductor-free space boundary is

equal to the surface charge density on the conductor divided by the permittivity of
free space.

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 Then, to summarize the boundary conditions at the conductor surface, we have

 On the surface of a conductor under static conditions, the electric field is

perpendicular to the surface, which is equipotential.

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Conductivity of Some Common Materials

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 Example: A positive point charge Q is at the center of a spherical conducting shell
of an inner radius Ri and an outer radius R0. Determine E and V as functions of the
radial distance R.
 Soln: There is spherical symmetry. It is simplest to use Gauss's law to determine E
and then find V by integration.
 There are three regions: a) R > R0, b) Ri< R< R0, and c) R < Ri.
 Suitable spherical Gaussian surfaces will be constructed in these regions.
 Symmetry requires that E = aRER in all three regions.

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 a) R> R0 (Gaussian surface S1) :

 or

 The E field is the same as that of a point charge Q without the presence of the shell.
The potential V1 referring to the point at infinity is

 b) Ri < R < R0 (Gaussian surface S2): ER2 = 0. (Conducting shell)

v = 0 in the conducting shell and the total charge enclosed in surface S2 must be
zero. Then, an amount of negative charge -Q must be induced on the inner shell
surface at R = Ri. (and +Q is induced on the outer shell surface at R=R0). The
conducting shell is an equipotential body. Hence,

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 c) R < Ri (Gaussian surface S3): Applying Gauss's law, we obtain

 The potential in this region is

 𝑉3 𝑎𝑡 𝑅=𝑅𝑖 = 𝑉2 𝑎𝑡 𝑅=𝑅𝑜

 Then, using V2 in b),

𝑄 𝑄
+𝐶 =
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅𝑖 4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅𝑜
𝑄 1 1
𝐶= ( − )
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅0 𝑅𝑖
 and

 The two graphs show the variations of ER and V in all three regions.
 Note that whereas the electric intensity has discontinuous jumps,
the potential remains continuous.
 Thus, potential is continuous across boundaries.
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 Example. Consider two spherical conductors with radii b1 and b2 (b2 >b1) that are
connected by a conducting wire. The distance of separation between the conductors
is assumed to be very large in comparison to b2 so that the charges on the spherical
conductors may be considered as uniformly distributed. A total charge Q is
deposited on the sphere . Find
a) the charges on the two spheres, and
b) the electric field intensities at the sphere surfaces.

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 a) Since the spherical conductors are at the same potential, then we have

 Since

 Then we have

 b) The electric field intensities at the surfaces of the two conducting spheres are

 and

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 Dielectrics
 Materials are composed of atoms with a positively charged nucleus surrounded by
negatively charged electrons. Although the molecules of dielectrics are
macroscopically neutral, an external electric field causes a force to be exerted on
each charged particle and results in small displacements of positive and negative
charges in opposite directions. These are bound charges. The displacements
polarize a dielectric material and create electric dipoles. Thus, a dielectric medium is
polarized by the external electric field Eext

 Dielectrics are insulating

materials, and contain
bound charges which
cannot move freely to
generate currents.
 Bound charges can move
short distances under an
electric field and form
electric dipoles.
Figure: A dielectric medium polarized by an external electric field

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 To analyze the macroscopic effect of induced dipoles we define a polarization
vector P as

 where n is the number of molecules per unit volume and the numerator represents
the vector sum of the induced dipole moments contained in a very small volume ∆v.
 The vector P is the volume density of electric dipole moment. The dipole moment of
an elemental volume is dp = P dv', which produces an electrostatic potential:

 Then, we obtain the potential due to the polarized dielectric as follows:

 where R is the distance from the elemental volume dv' to a fixed field point.

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 Electric Flux Density And Dielectric Constant
 To analyze the effect of induced dipoles we introduce a new field quantity, such that
𝐃 = 𝜖0 𝐄 + 𝐏.
 D: Electric flux density (electric displacement)
 P: Polarization vector.
 Now we have in differential form
𝛁 ∙ 𝐃 = 𝜌𝑣 (C/m3)
 𝜌𝑣 is the volume density of free charges.
 The corresponding integral form is

න 𝛁. 𝐃𝑑𝑣 = න 𝜌𝑣 𝑑𝑣
𝑉 𝑉

‫𝐃 𝑆ׯ‬. 𝑑𝐬 = 𝑄 (C). (Generalized Gauss’s law)

 It states that, total outward flux of the electric displacement (or, the total outward
electric flux) over any closed surface is equal to the total free charge enclosed in
the surface.
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 When the dielectric properties of the medium are linear and isotropic, the
polarization is directly proportional to the electric field intensity, and the
proportionality constant is independent of the direction of the field. Then we
write
P=𝜖0 𝜒𝑒 𝐄,
 where χe is the electric susceptibility of the material. A dielectric medium is
linear if χe is independent of E and homogenous if χe is independent of space
coordinates.
𝐃 = 𝜖0 𝐄 + 𝜖0 𝜒𝑒 𝐄
= 𝜖0 𝜖𝑟 𝐄 = 𝜖𝐄
𝜖
𝜖𝑟 = 1 + 𝜒𝑒 =
𝜖0
 𝜖0 is the permittivity of vacuum,
 𝜖𝑟 is the relative permittivity (or dielectric constant) of the material,
 𝜖 = 𝜖0 𝜖𝑟 is the absolute permittivity (often called simply permittivity) of
the material (Farads per meter, F/m).
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 𝜖𝑟 can be a function of space coordinates.
 If 𝜖𝑟 is independent of position, the medium is homogenous.
 A linear, homogeneous, and isotropic medium is called a simple medium.
 The relative permittivity of a simple medium is a constant.
 For anisotropic materials (such as crystals) the dielectric constant is different for
different directions of the electric field, and D and E vectors have different
directions.

 Dielectric Strength
 If the electric field is very strong, it will pull electrons completely out of the
molecules.
 This means that the applied electric field exceeds the dielectric strength of the
material, and it will free the electrons completely from the molecules in the form of
a conduction current.
 The material will become conducting, and large currents may result. This
phenomenon is called dielectric breakdown.
 In other words, the maximum electric field intensity that a dielectric material can
withstand without breakdown is the dielectric strength of the material.
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 Relative permittivity (dielectric constant) and dielectric strength of some common
materials

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 Example: A positive point charge Q is at the center of a spherical dielectric shell of
an inner radius Ri and an outer radius R0. The dielectric constant of the shell is 𝜖𝑟 .
Determine E, V, D, and P as functions of the radial distance R.

 a) R> Ro

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 b) Ri < R < Ro

 c) R < Ri

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 Boundary Conditions for Electrostatic Fields

 Electromagnetic problems often involve different media with different physical

properties and require the knowledge of the relations of the field quantities at an
interface between two media. For instance, we may wish to determine how the E
and D vectors change in crossing an interface.
 We have already learned the boundary conditions that must be satisfied at a
conductor/free space interface. These conditions are given as follows:

 We now consider an interface between two general media.

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 Interface between Two General Media :
 We create the path abcda with the sides ab in medium 1 and cd in medium 2. Then
we apply the rule ‫𝐄 𝐶ׯ‬. 𝑑𝒍 = 0 over the closed contour. As the sides bc = da = Δh
approach zero, their contributions to the line integral of E around the path can be
neglected. Hence, the line integral is written as follows:

 Then we have

• which means that the tangential component of E is continuous across an interface.

• When media l and 2 are dielectrics with permittivities 𝜖1 and 𝜖2 respectively, we can
write

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 The relation between the normal components of the field at a boundary is obtained
by creating a small pillbox. Its top face is in medium l and bottom face is in medium
2. S is the area of each face and the height h is vanishingly small. From Gauss’s
law,

 Unit vectors an2 and an1 are outward unit normal

from media 1 and 2, respectively. Then, we have

 the reference unit normal is outward from medium 2.

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 The above equation states that the normal component of D is discontinuous across
an interface where a surface charge exists. The amount of discontinuity is equal
to the surface charge density.
 If medium 2 is a conductor, D2 = 0 and

 When two dielectrics are in contact with no free charges at the interface, 𝜌𝑠 = 0 and
we have

 In summary, the boundary conditions for static electric fields are :

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 Example: A lucite sheet (𝜖𝑟 = 3.2) is introduced perpendicularly in a uniform
electric field E0 = axE0 in free space. Determine Ei, Di and Pi inside the lucite.

 Soln: The interfaces are perpendicular to the electric field, only the normal field
components are considered. No free charges exist.

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 The boundary condition D1n=D2n at the left interface gives

 Electric flux density does not change across the interface. The electric field intensity
inside the lucite sheet is

 The polarization vector is zero outside the lucite sheet (P0 = 0).
 Inside the sheet,

 Clearly, a similar application of the boundary condition D1n=D2n on the right

interface will yield the original Eo and Do in the free space on the right of the lucite
sheet.
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 Example: Two dielectric media with permittivities 𝜖1 and 𝜖2 are separated by a
charge-free boundary as shown in the figure. The electric field intensity in medium 1
at the point P1 has a magnitude E1 and makes an angle 𝛼1 with the normal.
Determine the magnitude and direction of the electric field intensity at point P2 in
medium 2.

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 Soln: and

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 Example: A uniform electric field intensity of magnitude 1000 V/m is measured
underwater and points at an angle 2 = 30° at the interface between water and air, as
shown in Figure below. If it is known that no surface charges can exist and the
relative permittivity of water is 80, calculate the electric field intensity in air
(direction and magnitude).

 Solution: The electric field intensity in air is found by separating the electric field
intensity in water into its tangential and normal components and then imposing the
continuity in the tangential component and discontinuity in the normal component.

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 Then, (taking water as material 2),

 The tangential and normal components of the electric field intensity in water are

 In air,

 The magnitude of the total electric field intensity in air is

 and

 The electric field intensity in air points at 0.04 from the normal.

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