Electromagnetic

fields & waves

EEEB 253
Chapter 5

Semester I 2013/14
27th May – 6th Sept. 2013
College of Engineering
 Chapter 5: Electric fields in
materials 2

• Previous chapter – consider electric field in free space

• Electric field in other mediums / materials – most of the equations are similar as in
last chapter with little modification
• Materials classified based on electrical properties – conductor and non-conductor
(insulator or dielectric)

1. Properties of materials
2. Conductors
3. Dielectrics
4. Continuity equation
5. Boundary conditions
Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.1: Properties of material 3

• Materials are categorized based on conductivity in the unit of mhos/m

or Siemens/m (S/m)
• Conductivity is usually dependent on the temperature and frequency
• High conductivity  conductor / metal; low conductivity 
insulator; “in between” semiconductor
• Conductivity increases with decreasing temperature
• Superconductor – extremely high / infinite conductivity at very low
temperature (0-4 Kelvin)  what degree celcius??

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
 5.2: Conductors 4

• Conductors – many freely moving charges

• An isolated conductor (top figure); external Efield is
applied+ve charges are pushed along Efield and -ve
charges move in opposite direction (charge migration
happens very quickly)
• 2 things are done by the free charges:-
 They accumulate on the surface of the conductor (induced
surface charges)
 Induced charges set up an internal induced field
• A conductor is an equipotential body – potential is the
same everywhere 

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.2: Conductors 5

• According to GL, if E=0, then charge density=0

• Under static condition,
• What happens when the ends / terminals of a conductor are
maintained at a certain potential difference?
• E=0??the conductor is no longer isolated but
wired to a source of electromotive force (battery)
• Disrupt the electrostatic equilibrium by forcing free charges to move
• There is an Efield to have current flows ; Efield, +ve charge,
current have the same direction; electrons flow in opposite direction
• Electrons movement is opposed by a damping force  Resistance

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.2: Conductors 6

• To obtain the resistance, assume the conductor has

a cross section area, S; current density,
• Ohm’s law,   ;
• Resistivity of material,
• For conductor with non-uniform cross section,
• Using power and energy equation,
• P.E. 5.3

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.3: Dielectrics 7

• Charges in dielectric are bounded but can displace if a sufficiently

large external force is applied
• When an Efield is applied, +ve charge is displaced in the direction of
Efield and –ve charge is displaced in the opposite direction of Efield
• Dipole – separation of +ve and –ve charges; Dipole is created  the
dielectric is said to be polarized
• In a polarized state, the electrons are distorted; Distorted charge
distribution = original distribution + dipole moment ( ), d is the
distance vector from –Q to +Q
• Total dipole moment

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.3: Dielectrics 8

• Calculate the field due to a polarized dielectric

• Net effect of the dielectric on the electric field is to increase D by an
amount P. Polarization P will vary with E, usually as
• is the electric susceptibility of material – a measure of how
susceptible a dielectric is to electric fields
• Dielectric constant
• Permittivity of dielectric vs. permittivity of free space
• Dielectric constant / relative permittivity - ratio of to ; may
change at high frequencies > 1 GHz

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.3: Dielectrics 9

• Try eg. 5.7; In class: P.E. 5.7

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
5.5: Boundary conditions 10

• We considered Efield only in one medium

• When it involves more than one medium, the conditions that the field
must satisfy at the interface separating the medium is called the
Boundary Conditions
• Consider 3 cases 1) dielectric 1 and dielectric 2; 2) Conductor and
dielectric; 3) Conductor and free space
• Use Maxwell’s equations:-
• Decompose electric field intensity into 2 orthogonal components
• tangential and normal components of E

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power
Chapter 5 Conclusion 11

• Properties of material – Conductor vs. dielectric

• Conductor – Efield, current flow, Ohm’s law, energy and power
• Dielectric – field, polarization, relative permittivity
• Current continuity equation based on Ohm’s law and Gauss’s law
• 3 boundary conditions – tangential and normal components of
Efield
• Tutorial questions:- 5.13, 5.25, 5.26, 5.30

Ker Pin Jern © Universiti Tenaga Nasional, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Power