Section 3 : Electrostatics

Outline: • Inverse Square Law

• Coulomb’s Law
• The Electric Field
• Gauss’ Law
• Conductors in Electric Field
Textbook Video lectures
Chapters 1.4.4, 3, 5 & 6
VC2A Gauss's Law & Electrostatics (27:14)
https://youtu.be/f_kcVyB9W0Q

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Video lectures / Prof. W. Lewin

Lect 1 - Electric Charges and Forces – Coulomb's Law – Polarization 47min

https://youtu.be/x1-SibwIPM4

Lect 2 - Electric Field Lines, Superposition, Inductive Charging, Induced

Dipoles 48min
https://youtu.be/Pd9HY8iLiCA

Lect 3 - Electric Flux, Gauss' Law, Examples (50min)

https://youtu.be/Zu2gomaDqnM

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Sphere surface area

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! stationary and constant in time charges !

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Let’s make a search

Question: What is the electric field due to an infinite sheet of charge?

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/infinite-plane-of-charge.562418/

To remember:

The field from an infinite sheet of uniform charge is constant, from an infinite line
of uniform charge is proportional to , and from point charge is
proportional to .

http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae544.cfm

etc.
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Play with Electric Field Lines
Available at: http://www.vias.org/simulations/simusoft_efield.html

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not

ෝ - normal unit vector

at a surface point

= ( Τ )ෝ
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 Section 4 : Electrostatic Potential
Outline: • Electric Potential
• Line Integral
• Conservative Field

Textbook Video lectures

Chapter 4 VC2B Fields & Potential (13:30)
https://youtu.be/OYW5M5JP514

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Video lectures / Prof. W. Lewin

Lect 4 - Electrostatic Potential, Electric Energy, Equipotential Surfaces (49min)

https://youtu.be/QpVxj3XrLgk

Lect 5 - E= - grad V, Conductors, Electrostatic Shielding (Faraday Cage) – 50min

https://youtu.be/JhV-GOS4y8g

Lect 6 - High-voltage Breakdown, Lightning, Sparks, St-Elmo's Fire (53min)

https://youtu.be/ww0XJUqFHXU

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-2

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Charged Metal Wire (2D problem)

Consider a very long (theoretically, infinitely long) straight metal wire of circular cross
section of radius . Let it be charged with linear charge density (uniform charge per
unit length ; units: C/m).
What are the field and potential
everywhere around the wire?

As the result of the symmetrical and

uniform charge distribution, vector
is radial.

Its magnitude depends only on the

normal distance from the wire axis.

metal wire
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 Charged Metal Wire
We adopt the cylindrical Gauss’ surface at distance r / no flux through the cylinder
bases because vector E is tangential to them. The total flux through the closed surface
is therefore equal to the flux through its cylindrical part (E is equal in all surface points).
0, <
඾ · = 2 ℎ=ቐ ℎ
, ≥

0, <
=ቐ
, ≥
2
Introducing surface charge density on
the wire = = , the field on
P’
the wire surface is = / . Error in figure 6.2 in Popovic &
Popovic book!

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Charged Metal Wire

Let the reference point R be at from the wire
axis, in the plane containing P and the wire axis.

The simplest path (any path is ok when

calculating potential) has two segments:
1. blue radial line from P to P’
→ · = P’
2. red line parallel to the wire axis from P’ to R Error in figure 6.2 in Popovic &
→ · =0 Popovic book!

Electric potential at point P (where ≥ ) is the work done to move a positive unit charge
from reference R to the point P :

= න · =න · න · =න = න = ln
2 2
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 Charged Metal Wire
Electric potential at point C located inside wire ( < ):
= ‫׬‬ · =‫׬‬ · ‫׬‬ · ‫׬‬ ·
=0 ‫׬‬ 0= ln (≠ ( ))

: potential with reference to = 10 C

= 1 and = 2 (all normalised values)
P’
Error in figure 6.2 in Popovic &
Popovic book!

r=0:0.1:10;
plot(r,log(10./r).*(r>=2)+log(10./2).*(r<2))
xlabel('r'); ylabel('V(r)'); grid
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Charged Metal Wire

Voltage between two points, and , at distances
= and = from the conductor centre:
=
= ln ln ln ln
= ln

In accordance with the notation,

is the voltage at with respect to .
If is positive and is greater than ,
then is positive; that is, is at a higher
potential than .

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 Example: Overhead Line with 2 Wires
Consider a configuration of 2 arbitrary wires & in the air
over a perfectly conducting ground (→ images method).
Each wire has a linear uniform charge: and [C/m],
and images are and [C/m].
The potential of the conductor with respect to the
ground due to charges on , ′ , , ′ :
− −
= ln ln ln ln

= ln ln
where is wire radius, finally =
= ln ln
2 2 =
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Example: Overhead Line with n Wires

Consider a configuration of arbitrary wires in the air over
a perfectly conducting ground (→ images method). Each
wire = 1, … has a linear uniform charge [C/m].

The potential vector of the conductors with respect to the

ground due to the charges on all of them is

ln ⋯ ln
1
⋮ = ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⋮
2
ln ⋯ ln
=

Matrix of potential coefficients =

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Section 5 : Dielectrics
Outline: • Polarization of Dielectrics in Electrostatic Fields
• Generalized Form of Gauss’ Law
• Capacitance and Capacitors
• Energy and Forces in the Electrostatic Field

Textbook Video lectures

Chapters 7 - 9 VC2C Dielectrics (12:37)
https://youtu.be/ZRoTtLcarzw

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Video lectures / Prof. W. Lewin

Lect 7 - Capacitance, Electric Field Energy (49min)

https://youtu.be/qyP1xZCB62E

Lect 8 - Polarization, Dielectrics, Van de Graaff Generator, Capacitors (50min)

https://youtu.be/GAtAG938AQc

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Energy of a Charged Capacitor

Consider a capacitor of capacitance that is initially not charged.
We wish to charge its electrodes with and .
→ we take small positive charges from the negative electrode and take them
over to the positive electrode.
To move the charge against the electric forces ( is attracted by the negative electrode,
and repelled by the positive electrode), we must do some work.

At an time instant during the charging process, the capacitor electrodes are charged with
charges and (0 < ≤ ).
→ the potential difference between electrodes is = / .
→ the work we have to do against the electric forces in moving the next from the
negative to the positive electrode equals to = =
No losses so work is equal potential energy: = =‫׬‬ = Τ(2 ) [ ]
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= =න = Τ(2 )

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Capacitance / Generalised Formulation

A voltage placed across the two conductors allows
positive and negative charges to accumulate on the
conductor surfaces ( – surface charge distribution).
The charge on each conductor is distributed to
insure the potential is the same at all points; field is
normal to conductor surface and weakened by
polarisation field in dielectric: = ( Τ )ෝ
Total charge on the surface of positively charged conductor is

=඾ =඾ · =඾ ·

Capacitance is the ration between positively charged conductor and the potential difference
‫װ‬ ·
= = +
+ − ‫׬‬− · independent of path
Electrostatic Coupling
in Multibody Systems
Consider a system of n conductive
charged bodies and in addition
the reference body R (e.g. earth).
Let the dielectric between bodies
be linear but does not need to be
homogeneous.
→ linear = independent of E, homogeneous = independent of space coordinates

There is a relationship between the charges on the conductive bodies and their potentials,
= ⋯ , = 1,2, …
The coefficients are named potential coefficients, and there unit is 1/F .

Electrostatic Coupling in Multibody Systems

In many practical problems the potentials are known and we need to find the charges,

= ⋯ , = 1, …

The most common name for the electrostatic induction coefficients, and unit is F.

We can rewrite the above equation in the following form:

= ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ,
or finally,
= ⋯ ⋯ , = 1, …
The coefficients are known as the capacitance.
 Electrostatic Coupling in Multibody Systems

If we know any of the three sets of coefficients ( , , ) for a given system of

conducting bodies, we can calculate mutual electrostatic effects in many practical
applications.

Conceptually, using the superposition principle, the procedure to find coefficients would
be as follows:
- Assume that all the bodies except body are discharged, and that the charge on the ℎ
body is .
- If we know the potentials of all n bodies, we can calculate n potential coefficients via
= , = ,…, =
- Repeat this procedure by considering a charge on all other bodies (one at the time) and
obtain the complete set of the potential coefficients ( coefficients).

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Applications
Lightning strike explanation
OU BBC S271 Ep 7 Lightning Does Strike Twice
https://youtu.be/LLAVDV-Ofkc

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