Short summary of the 2nd week of Electrodynamics I

Toshihiko Ota1,
1
Yachay Tech, Hacienda San Jose s/n y Proyecto Yachay, 100119 San Miguel de Urcuqu, Ecuador
(Dated: April 12, 2017)

When you find typos and mistakes, please let me know.

I. ELECTROSTATICS

It has been known that a charge q1 [C] at r1 exerts a force on the other charge Q [C] at r. Coulomb found that
the strength of the force F1 [N] is proportional to the charges and inverse proportional to the square of the distance
between two charges. The direction of the force is parallel to the straight line between the two points where the
charges are located. All these natures are summarized in the following equation;
1 Qq1 r r1
F1 = , (1)
40 |r r1 | |r r1 |
2

where 0 is a constant called permittinvity of vacuum, which is 0 = 8.854... 1012 [C2 /(Nm2 )]. To understand this
mysterious force that aects without touching directly, people introduced an idea called electric field and separated
the reason of the force into two parts #1. The (source) charge q1 induces the electric field E1 (r) [N/C] at r, and
#2. The (test) charge Q at r is aected by the electric field and feels the force, i.e.,
1 q1 r r1
F1 = QE1 (r), E1 (r) . (2)
40 |r r1 |2 |r r1 |

If there are many source charges qi at ri , the total force F that the test charge Q at r feels is given by the sum of
each contribution, which is
1 qi r ri
F = Fi = QE(r) E(r) . (3)
i
40 i |r ri |2 |r ri |

When the distribution of source charges is given with a charge density function (r) [C/m3 ], the force that the test
charge Q at r feels is given as

1 (r ) r r
F (r) = QE(r), E(r) dV, (4)
40 V |r r |2 |r r |

where the integral V
...dV means the integration with respect to r . (cf. Sec. 2.1 in Griths 3rd ed.)
To understand electric field E that we cannot see, people (maybe Faraday) introduced an idea called electric field
line. Suppose there is a plus source charge and if we accept the hypothesis,
A plus point charge emits field lines spherically symmetrical, and
the strength of the electric field |E| is given with the density [lines/m2 ] of the field lines,
2
we can nicely explains 1/(distance) behaviour of |E| This hypothesis seems to hit the truth.1 Let us proceed one
step more with this concept of field line. We adopt the following rules;

Electronic address: tota@yachaytech.edu.ec

1 In the class, we introduced this hypothesis from the similarity to the lightness at a distance R from a light bulb.
 2

The strength of electric field, |E(r)|, is given with the density of field lines at r, i.e., the unit of E is given with
[lines/m2 ],
A charge +q [C] emits q/0 lines,
A charge q [C] absorbs q/0 lines,
Field lines do not appear/disappear in the air when they appear/disappear, there must be charges there.
Following these rules, we find the relation2

Number of lines coming out of the closed surface S = Number of lines emitted from the source charges enclosed by S.

This relation can be expressed with an equation, which is

1
in S in S
E ndS = qi , where is the sum of the source charges enclosed by S,
S 0 i i

To understand the meaning of the left-hand-side, pay attention to the unit |E| [lines/m2 ] and dS [m2 ].
The inner product with n extracts the perpendicular element from E. Therefore,E ndS represents
the number of lines coming out of the area dS. Summing all the contributions(= S ), you can get the
number of lines coming out of S

1
= E ndS = dV
S 0 V
V is the volume bounded by the closed surface S

1
= EdV = dV
V 0 V
Here we used Gauss theorem (Mathematical Physics I).

= E =
0
Now you have Gauss law, which is one of Maxwells equations

divE = . (5)
0

As we have seen, this is derived from Coulombs law by introducing the concept of electric field line. Therefore, this
equation must contain Coulombs law Can you see it?3 (cf. Sec. 2.2.1-2.2.3 in Griths 3rd ed.)
Coulomb force F is a conserved force (Prove this, i.e., show rotE = 0). You studied in Classical Mechanics that
a conserved force can be expressed with the gradient of a scalar field that is called potential, i.e., Electric field E(r)
can be expressed with a potential (r) as4

2 In the class, we saw explicitly this relation with a simplified example, in which we counted the number of field lines coming out of a
closed line that contains two charges on a 2-dimensional plane.
3 Actually, we derived Eq. (3) from Eq. (5) in the class
4 I use two dierent phis; for the angle and for a scalar potential.
 3

E(r) = grad(r). (6)

When you move a test charge Q from rA to rB in the electric field E(r), the work you have to give to the test charge
is expressed as
rB rB
W (rA rB ) = (F that you give) dr = (F that E gives) dr
rA rA
rB
=Q E dr
r
rB A
= (grad) dr
rA
rB
=Q d
rA

Total derivative is given as d = (grad) dr. cf. Exercise class in the 1st week.
(r )
=Q[(r)](rB
A)

You can do this integration, as if were just a variable. If you have any doubt, check total
derivative.
=Q ((rB ) (rA )) (7)
You can see, the potential (r) is given with the line integral of E as
rB
(rB ) (rA ) = E dr, (8)
rA

which is another expression of Eq. (6). Let us set a point charge q at the original point O, then, the potential (r)
at r is calculated to be
r r [ ] r [ ]r [ ]
1 1 q 1 q 1 q 1 1
(r) (r ) = E(r ) dr = er er dr = dr = = .
r r 40 r2 40 r2 40 r 40 r
(9)
So, we have
1 q
(r) = , when q is set at O (10)
40 |r|
(and (r ) = 0). If you have many charges qi at ri , as you can guess, the total potential (r) at r is simply given as
1 qi
(r) = . (11)
40 i |r ri |

Actually, with this and Eq. (6), you can recover E given at Eq. (3). So, we can believe Eq. (11) is correct (Confirm
this; Derive E in Eq. (3) from Eq. (11)). When we have a charge density distribution function (r), the potential is
given as

1 (r )
(r) = dV, (12)
40 V |r r |
where the integral is taken with respect to r . Taking gradient of this, you can recover E in Eq. (4). You can also
obtain Eq. (12) by solving Poissons equation5
(r)
2 (r) = , (13)
0

5 I think, you studied how to solve Poissons equation in general in Mathematical Physics I. Do you know Greens function?
 4

(cf. Sec. 2.2.4-Sec.2.3.2 in Griths 3rd ed).

II. MAGNETOSTATICS VOL.1

Magnetic force has been known since ancient time. People had been asking, What is the source of this strange
force? It looks similar to electric force6 , so it seems that we can formulate the magnetic force by introducing magnetic
charges. However, there is a big dierence from electric force Magnetic charges always appear as a pair of an
N charge and an S charge, i.e., There is no magnetic monopole. Oersted found that an electric current aects the
direction of compass needles around the current. Ampere confirmed that an electric current creates magnetic fields,
and an electric current gets a magnetic force from a magnetic field, i.e., Magnetic force is re-defined as the force acting
between electric currents. In magnetostatics, we deal with the magnetic fields induced by steady currents which satisfy

divj = 0, (14)

(Why does a steady current have to satisfy this condition? Tell the reason in words. cf. Sec. 5.2.1 in Griths 3rd
ed.). Ampere found that the force between two steady straight currents decreases as 1/distance, when they are moved
away. The strength of the force that the [m] part of the current receivers is expressed as

0 Is I 0 Is
|F | = = I|B|, |B| (15)
2 R 2 R

Now the reason of the force is divided into two parts, as Coulomb force #1 the source current Is induces a magnetic
field B and #2 the magnetic field aects the current I and the current I feels the magnetic force. Here 0 is a constant
called permeability in vacuum, which is 0 = 4 107 [N/A2 ]. The direction of the magnetic field B induced by the
source current Is follows the right-handed rule, and the direction of the force F that the test current I gets from the
magnetic field B follows the Flemings left-handed rule, as you know (cf. Sec. 5.1.1-5.1.2 in Griths 3rd ed.).
Amperes law only tells us the magnetic field created by a straight current. However, currents are not always straight.
To know the magnetic field induced by a steady current taking arbitrary path, we have to know the magnetic field
induced by each small part of a current. Similarity to the relation between Coulombs law and the electric field around
the charges in a line7 , one can guess the magnetic field dB(r) at r, which is created by a small part of a current Idr
at r , should be8

0 Idr r r
dB(r) = . (16)
4 |r r |2 |r r |

You see, the strength of the magnetic field behaves 1/(distance)2 , which is the same as the electric field induced by
a point charge (cf. Coulombs law). Summing all the contributions from each small part on the path, called C, of a
current, one can calculate the magnetic field B(r) at r, which is induced by the current, as

0 Idr r r
B(r) = dB(r) = . (17)
C 4 C |r r |2 |r r |

This is Biot-Savart law. Applying Eq. (17) to a steady straight current, you can, of course, recover Amperes law
Eq. (15)(Check this). (cf. Sec. 5.1.3-5.2 in Griths 3rd ed.)

6 But people, of course, knew that it is dierent from electric force, because the material that possesses magnetic nature is not the same
as the material that has electric charges.
7 We saw this relation in the exercise class.
8 We will observe this in the next lecture!
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III. LEVI-CIVITA SYMBOL (TOTAL ANTI-SYMMETRIC TENSOR)

The Levi-Civita symbol is defined as

1, for (i, j, k) = (1, 2, 3), (2, 3, 1), (3, 1, 2),
ijk = 1, for (i, j, k) = (1, 3, 2), (2, 1, 3), (3, 2, 1), (18)

0, otherwise, e.g., (i, j, k) = (1, 1, 2).

Using this, one can express the cross product as

3
3
ei ej = ijk ek , AB = ijk ei Aj Bk , (19)
k=1 i,j,k=1

where e1 = ex , e2 = ey , e3 = ez , and A1 = Ax etc. The identity

3
ijk klm = il jm im jl (20)
k=1

is useful to carry out calculations including cross products, such as A (B C) (cf. Problems in Sec. 6 of Griths
3rd ed. and the Wikipedia article Levi-Civita symbol).