Electromagnetic Theory

EE-301
Lecture 04
Electrostatic Fields

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Revision
• The Electromagnetic Model

• Gradient Of a Scalar
• Divergence of a vector field
• Divergence Theorem
• Curl of a Vector
• Stokes's Theorem

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Outline
• Introduction
• Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics in Free Space
• Coulomb's Law
• Gauss’s Law
• Electric Potential

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Introduction
• In electrostatics, electric charges (the sources) are at rest. and electric
fields do not change with time.
• Coulomb's law can be written
𝑞1 𝑞2
𝑭12 = 𝒂𝑅12 𝑘 2
𝑅12
• Coulomb’s law is in fact a postulate
• the charged bodies be very small in comparison with the distance of
separation
• the force be inversely proportional to the square of the distance.

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Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics in
Free Space
• Electric field intensity 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.
𝑭
𝑬 = lim (𝑉 Τ𝑚)
𝑞→0 𝑞

• The test charge q, of course, cannot be zero in practice; as a matter of

fact, it cannot be less than the charge on an electron.

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Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics in
Free Space (cont.)
• Eq i and ii are point relations; that is, they hold at every point in
space.
• They are referred to as the differential form of the postulates of
electrostatics, since both divergence and curl operations involve
spatial derivatives.
• In practical applications we are usually interested in the total field of
an aggregate or a distribution of charges.
• This is more conveniently obtained by an integral form of eq. i

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Fundamental Postulates of Electrostatics in
Free Space (cont.)
• This equation is a form of Gauss's law, which states that the total
outward flux of the electric field intensity over any closed surface in
free space is equal to the total charge enclosed in the surface divided
by 𝜖0 .
• From eq. iv 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.
• Thus Eq. iv is an expression of Kirchhoff’s voltage law in circuit theory that
the algebraic sum of voltage drops around any closed circuit is zero.

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Coulomb's Law
• Consider the simplest possible electrostatic problem of a single point
charge, q, at rest in a boundless free space.
• In order to find the electric field intensity due to q, we draw a
hypothetical spherical surface of a radius R centered at q.
• Since a point charge has no preferred directions, its electric field must
be everywhere radial and has the same intensity at all points on the
spherical surface.
• 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.
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Coulomb's Law (cont.)
• If the charge q is not located at the origin of a chosen coordinate
system, suitable changes should be made to the unit vector aR and
the distance R to reflect the locations of the charge and of the point
at which E is to be determined.
• Let the position vector of q be R' and that of a field point P be R, as
shown in Fig.
• Example: Determine the electric field intensity at P(-0.2, 0, -2.3) due
to a point charge of +5 (nC) at Q(0.2, 0.1, —2.5) in air. All dimensions
are in meters.

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Coulomb's Law (cont.)
• ELECTRIC FIELD DUE TO A SYSTEM OF DISCRETE CHARGES
• If point charges q1 and q2 are located at points having position vectors r1
and r2, then the force F12 on q2 due to q1, shown in Figure, is given by
following expression
• From these expression, note that
• Like charges (charges of the same sign) repel each other while unlike charges attract.
• The distance R between the charged bodies q1 and q2 must be large compared with
the linear dimensions of the bodies; that is, q1 and q2 must be point charges.
• q1 and q2 must be static (at rest).
• The signs of q1 and q2 must be taken into account in eq. vii

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Coulomb's Law (cont.)
• If we have more than two point charges, we can use the principle of
superposition to determine the force on a particular charge.
• The principle states that if there are N charges q1, q2, …,qN located,
respectively, at points with position vectors r1, r2,…,rN, the resultant
force F on a charge q located at point r is the vector sum of the forces
exerted on q by each of the charges q1, q2, …,qN .
• The electric field intensity (or electric field strength) E is the force
per unit charge when placed in the electric field.

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Example:
• Point charges 1 mC and -2 mC are located at (3, 2, -1 ) and (-1, -1, 4),
respectively. Calculate the electric force on a 10-nC charge located at
(0, 3, 1) and the electric field intensity at that point.

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Electric Flux Density
• From eq.s xi and xii we can conclude that the electric field intensity is
dependent on the medium in which the charge is placed.
• Suppose a new vector field D independent of the medium is defined
by
𝑫 = 𝜖0 𝑬
• We define electric flux in terms of D as
𝜓 = න 𝑫. 𝑑𝑺

• the vector field D is called the electric flux density and is measured in
coulombs per square meter. (also called electric displacement)
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Example
• Determine D at (4, 0, 3) if there is a point charge −5𝜋 mC at (4, 0, 0)
and a line charge 3𝜋 mC/m along the y-axis.

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Gauss’s Law
• Gauss's law asserts that 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 𝜖0 .
• Gauss's law also states that the total electric flux through any closed
surface is equal to the total charge enclosed by that surface.
• Gauss's law provides an easy means of finding E or D for symmetrical
charge distributions such as a point charge, an infinite line charge, an
infinite cylindrical surface charge, and a spherical distribution of
charge.

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Gauss’s Law (cont.)
• It must be stressed that whether the charge distribution is symmetric
or not, Gauss's law always holds.
• From this example, we see that Gauss’s law is still obeyed even
though the charge distribution is not symmetric.
• However, we cannot use the law to determine E or D when the charge
distribution is not symmetric; we must resort to Coulomb's law to
determine E or D in that case.

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Applications of Gauss’s Law
• The procedure for applying Gauss's law to calculate the electric field
involves first knowing whether symmetry exists.
• Once symmetric charge distribution exists, we construct a
mathematical closed surface (known as a Gaussian surface).
i. Point Charge
ii. Infinite Line Charge
iii. Infinite Sheet of Charge
iv. Uniformly Charged Sphere

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Example
• Given that 𝑫 = 𝑧𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜙 𝒂𝑧 𝐶 Τ𝑚2 , calculate the charge density at d,
at 1, 𝜋Τ4 , 3 and the total charge enclosed by the cylinder of radius
1 m with −2 ≤ 𝑧 ≤ 2 𝑚.

• A charge distribution with spherical symmetry has density

𝜌0 𝑟
, 0≤𝑟≤𝑅
𝜌𝑣 = ቐ 𝑅
0 𝑟>𝑅
Determine E everywhere.

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Electric Potential
• Suppose we wish to move a point charge Q from point A to point B in
an electric field E as shown in fig.

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Electric Potential (cont.)
• In determining VAB, A is the initial point while B is the final point.
• VAB is independent of the path taken.
• VAB is measured in joules per coulomb, commonly referred to as volts
(V).

• The potential at any point is the potential difference between that

point and a chosen point in which the potential is zero.

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Electric Potential (cont.)
• From eq. iii to v, the zero potential (reference) point has been chosen
arbitrarily to be at infinity.
• If any other point is chosen as reference, eq. (A), for example,
becomes
𝑄
𝑉= +𝐶
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟
• where C is a constant that is determined at the chosen point of
reference.

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Example
• Two point charges −4𝜇𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 − 5𝜇𝐶 are located at ( 2 , -1 , 3) and (0,
4, - 2 ) , respectively. Find the potential at (1, 0, 1) assuming zero
potential at infinity.

• A point charge 5 nC is located at ( - 3 , 4, 0) while line y = 1, z = 1

carries uniform charge 2 nC/m.
(a) If V = 0 V at O(0, 0, 0), find V at A(5, 0, 1).
(b) If V = 100 V at 5(1, 2, 1), find V at C(-2, 5, 3).
(c) If V = - 5 V at O, find VBC.

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