Coordinate Systems

To understand the Electromagnetics, we must know basic vector algebra and

coordinate systems. So let us start the coordinate systems.

COORDINATE SYSTEMS
• RECTANGULAR or Cartesian
Choice is based on
symmetry of problem
• CYLINDRICAL

• SPHERICAL
Examples:
Sheets - RECTANGULAR

Wires/Cables - CYLINDRICAL

Spheres - SPHERICAL
Cylindrical Symmetry Spherical Symmetry

Visualization (Animation)
 Orthogonal Coordinate Systems:
1. Cartesian Coordinates z
P(x,y,z)
Or
y
Rectangular Coordinates
P (x, y, z) x

z
z
P(r, Φ, z)
2. Cylindrical Coordinates
P (r, Φ, z) r y
x Φ
X=r cos Φ,
Y=r sin Φ,
Z=z z
3. Spherical Coordinates P(r, θ, Φ)
θ r
P (r, θ, Φ)
X=r sin θ cos Φ, y
x Φ
Y=r sin θ sin Φ,
Z=z cos θ
 z z
P(r, θ, Φ)
Cartesian Coordinates P(x,y,z)
θ r P(x, y, z) y

Φ
y x
x

Spherical Coordinates Cylindrical Coordinates

P(r, θ, Φ) z P(r, Φ, z)

z
P(r, Φ, z)

r y
x Φ
Cartesian coordinate system
• dx, dy, dz are infinitesimal
dz displacements along X,Y,Z.
Z
dy • Volume element is given by
dx dv = dx dy dz
P(x,y,z) • Area element is
Y da = dx dy or dy dz or dxdz
• Line element is
X
dx or dy or dz
Ex: Show that volume of a cube
of edge a is a3.
a a a
V   dv   dx  dy  dz  a 3
v 0 0 0
 Cartesian Coordinates

Differential quantities:

Length:

dl  xˆdx  yˆ dy  zˆdz
Area:

dsx  xˆdydz

dsy  yˆdxdz

dsz  zˆdxdy
Volume:

dv  dxdydz
 AREA INTEGRALS

• integration over 2 “delta” distances dy

dx
Example:
y
7 6

6
AREA = 
3 2
dy dx = 16

2 Note that: z = constant

3 7 x
Cylindrical coordinate system
(r,φ,z)

Y
r
φ

X
 Cylindrical
Spherical polarcoordinate
coordinatesystem
system
(r,φ,z)
• dr is infinitesimal displacement
Z along r, r dφ is along φ and
dz is along z direction.
dz r dφ
• Volume element is given by
dr dv = dr r dφ dz
• Limits of integration of r, θ, φ
are
dφ Y 0<r<∞ , 0<z <∞ , o<φ <2π
φ r Ex: Show that Volume of a
dr r dφ Cylinder of radius ‘R’ and
X
height ‘H’ is π R2H .
φ is azimuth angle
Volume of a Cylinder of radius ‘R’
and Height ‘H’
V   dv   r dr d dz
v
R 2 H
  rdr  d  dz
0 0 0

R H 2

Try yourself:
1) Surface Area of Cylinder = 2πRH .
2) Base Area of Cylinder (Disc)=πR2.
Cylindrical Coordinates: Visualization of Volume element

Differential quantities:

Length element:

dl  aˆ r dr  aˆ rd   aˆ z dz
Area element:

dsr  aˆ r rd dz

ds  aˆ drdz

ds z  aˆ z rdrd 
Volume element:

dv  r dr d  dz

Limits of integration of r, θ, φ are 0<r<∞ , 0<z <∞ , o<φ <2π

Spherically Symmetric problem
(r,θ,φ)
Z

θ
r
Y
φ

X
 Spherical polar coordinate system (r,θ,φ)

• dr is infinitesimal displacement
along r, r dθ is along θ and
r sinθ dφ is along φ direction.
Z P(r, θ, φ) • Volume element is given by
dr dv = dr r dθ r sinθ dφ
r cos θ P
r dθ • Limits of integration of r, θ, φ
θ r
are
Y 0<r<∞ , 0<θ <π , o<φ <2π
Ex: Show that Volume of a
φ r sinθ r sinθ dφ sphere of radius R is 4/3 π R3 .
X
θ is zenith angle( starts from +Z reaches up to –Z) ,
φ is azimuth angle (starts from +X direction and lies in x-y plane only)
Volume of a sphere of radius ‘R’

V   dv   r dr sin  d d
2

v
R  2
  r dr  sin  d  d
2

0 0 0
3
R 4
 . 2 . 2   R 3
3 3

Try Yourself:
1)Surface area of the sphere= 4πR2 .
Spherical Coordinates: Volume element in space
 Points to remember
System Coordinates dl1 dl2 dl3
Cartesian x,y,z dx dy dz
Cylindrical r, φ,z dr rdφdz
Spherical r,θ, φ dr rdθ r sinθdφ

• Volume element : dv = dl1 dl2 dl3

• If Volume charge density ‘ρ’ depends only on ‘r’:

Q   dv    4r 2 dr
v l
Ex: For Circular plate: NOTE
Area element da=r dr dφ in both the
coordinate systems (because θ=900)
 Quiz: Determine
a) Areas S1, S2 and S3.
b) Volume covered by these surfaces.
S3

Solution: Z
2 h
r Radius is r,
a) i)S1   rd  dz  rh(2  1 )
1 0
Height is h,
r h 1    2
ii) S 2   dr  dz  rh S2
0 0 S1
2 r
r2
iii) S 3   dr.rd  (2  1 )
2 Y
1 0
h 2 r dφ
r2
b)V    dr.rd.dz  (2  1 )h
0 1 0
2
X
 Vector Analysis
• What about A.B=?, AxB=? and AB=?
• Scalar and Vector product:
A.B=ABcosθ Scalar or
(Axi+Ayj+Azk).(Bxi+Byj+Bzk)=AxBx+AyBy+AzBz

AxB=ABSinθ n Vector n
(Result of cross product is always
perpendicular(normal) to the plane
B
of A and B
A
 Gradient, Divergence and Curl

The Del Operator

• Gradient of a scalar function is a

vector quantity.
f Vector

• Divergence of a vector is a scalar

quantity.
. A
xA
• Curl of a vector is a vector
quantity.
 Fundamental theorem for
divergence and curl
• Gauss divergence
theorem:

 (.V )dv   V .da

v s
Conversion of volume integral to surface integral and vice verse.

• Stokes curl theorem

 ( x V ).da   V .dl
s l
Conversion of surface integral to line integral and vice verse.
 Operator in Cartesian Coordinate
System

T ˆ T ˆ T ˆ as
T  i j k
Gradient: x y z
gradT: points the direction of maximum increase of the
function T.
 Vx Vy Vz where
Divergence: V   
x y z V  Vx iˆ  V y ˆj  Vz kˆ

Curl:   Vz Vy   Vx Vz   Vy Vx 

V    iˆ     ˆj    kˆ
 y z   z x   x y 
 Operator in Cylindrical Coordinate
System

Volume Element: dv  rdrd dz

Gradient: T 1 T ˆ T
T  r̂    ẑ
r r  z
 1 1 V Vz V  V rˆ  V ˆ  V zˆ
Divergence:  V   rVr    r  z
r r r  z

 1Vz V  Vr Vz  1 Vr 

Curl: V   r̂      rV  ẑ
ˆ
 r  z   z r  r  r  
 Operator In Spherical Coordinate System

Gradient : T 1 T ˆ 1 T ˆ
T  r̂    
r r  r sin   

 1   r 2Vr  1   sinV  1 V

Divergence: V  2  
r r r sin  r sin 

  V  1  1 Vr  
 sin V    r̂     rV  ˆ
 1
Curl:  V  
r sin 
    r  sin   r 
1 Vr  ˆ
   rV  
 
r  r   V  Vr rˆ V ˆ  Vˆ
 Basic Vector Calculus
     
  (F  G )  G    F  F    G

    0,     F  0
  
  (  F )   (  F )   F
2

Divergence or Gauss’
Theorem
The divergence theorem states that the total outward flux
of a vector field F through the closed surface S is the same
as the volume integral of the divergence of F.
 Closed surface
 S, volume V,
 
  F normal
pointing
outward dV   F  dS
V S
 Stokes’ Theorem

Stokes’s theorem states that the circulation of a vector field F

around a closed path L is equal to the surface integral of the curl
of F over the open surface S bounded by L

    F   dS   F  d l
   
S L

 
dS  n dS
n
Oriented boundary
L