332:382 Electromagnetic Fields

Homework #1, due Wednesday, Feb. 13, Beginning of the class

For Matlab problems, please turn in the Matlab code and the plots.

1. Given:
z y x
a a a A 4 2 3 + = and 2 2 = +
x y z
B a a a ,
Find: (a) AB; (b) AB; (c) the angle between A and B; (d) the unit vector
A
a ; (e) the
projection of B along the direction of A, (B
A
a )
A
a ; (f) calculate B(B
A
a )
A
a and show
that it is perpendicular to the vector (B
A
a )
A
a (hint: find the dot product of these two
vectors).

2. Point charges of 50nC each are located at ) 0 0 1 ( , , A , ) 0 0 1 ( , , B , ) 0 1 0 ( , , C , and
) 0 1 0 ( , , D in free space. (a) Find the total force on the charge at . A (b) Plot the electric
field vector at P(0,0,1) the locations of the four charges using Matlab (you may modify
the Matlab code given in Sec. 2.2 lecture notes). (c) (Bonus) Can you plot the field in the
spatial region -3<x,y,z<3 using the Matlab quiver3 function? (hint: refer to the 3D vector
field example in Chapter 1 notes)

3. The charge density varies with radius in a cylindrical coordinate system as
C ) (
2 2 2
0
a + / =
v
/
3
m. Within what distance from the z axis does half the total
charge lie? (Hint: it may be helpful to use Matlab to plot the function d d r F
r
v }
=
0
) (
and have a pictorial view of at which r value F(r) reaches the half of its final value F().
For Matlab plot, you may assume
0
=1, a=1. But the Matlab plot is not required for this
problem.)

4. An infinite uniform line charge 2 =
L
nC/m lies along the x axis in free space, while
point charges of 8 nC each are located at ) 1 0 0 ( , , and ) 1 0 0 ( , , . (a) Find E at ) 4 3 2 ( , , . (b)
To what value should
L
be changed to cause E to be zero at ? , , ) 3 0 0 (

5. Given the surface charge density, C 2 =
s
/
2
m, existing in the region < 2 0. m,
0 = z , and is zero elsewhere, find E at: (a) ) 5 0 0 ( . = , = z P
A
; (b) . . = , = ) 5 0 0 ( z P
B


6. Given the electric field
y x
y x y x a a E ) 4 2 ( ) 2 4 ( + = , find: (a) the equation of the
streamline that passes through the point ) 4 3 2 ( , , P ; (b) a unit vector specifying the
direction of E at . , , ) 5 2 3 ( Q (c) (Bonus) find the general equation for the streamlines and
plot the streamlines using Matlab (Refer to the Matlab example in Sec. 2.6 lecture notes).