Consultation Hours @ A101:

10-11am, 3-4pm

ThF

10am-12nn, 2:15-4:15pm

Attendance Quiz: Sec 21-5

Find the magnitude and direction of the net electric

field at the location of charge A. Express your answer in
terms of , 0 , , .

Electric Field Calculations

Objective
Evaluate the electric field at a point in space due

arbitrary charge distributions

to a system of

Notations:
Point

charge (q)

Linear

charge density ()

Charge per unit length

Area

charge density ()

Charge per unit area

Volume

charge density ()

Charge per unit volume

Approach: Discrete charge distribution

1.

Make a sketch for the problem, clearly showing the

chosen coordinate axes, charge locations, and field
point location. Identify and indicate all needed
information.

2.

Obtain the electric field contribution one by one.

Write the electric field vector in component form.

3.

Magnitude is obtained using Coulombs law.

4.

NET electric field vector obtained using

superposition principle.

Attendance Quiz: Sec 21-5

Find the magnitude and direction of the net electric

field at the location of charge A. Express your answer in
terms of , 0 , , .

Example 1: Ring of Charge

Charge

q is uniformly distributed around a

conducting ring of radius a. What is the electric
field at point P on the ring axis at a distance x
from its center?

Approach: Continuous charge distribution

1.

Make a sketch for the problem, clearly showing the

chosen coordinate axes, charge locations, and field
point location. Identify and indicate all needed
information.

2.

Define a small charge element, find its electric field.

Write electric field vector in component form.

3.

Integrate to get total field of all charge elements.

Example 1: Ring of Charge

Charge

q is uniformly distributed around a

conducting ring of radius a. What is the electric
field at point P on the ring axis at a distance x
from its center?

Magnitude:

Direction: along positive x-axis

Example 2: Uniformly charged disk

A

nonconducting disk of radius R has a uniform

positive surface charge density . What is the
electric field at a point along the axis of the disk
a distance x from its center? Assume that x is
positive.

Approach: Continuous charge distribution

1.

Make a sketch for the problem, clearly showing the

chosen coordinate axes, charge locations, and field
point location. Identify and indicate all needed
information.

2.

Define a small charge element, find its electric field.

Write electric field vector in component form.

3.

Integrate to get total field of all charge elements.

Example 2: Uniformly charged disk

A

nonconducting disk of radius R has a uniform

positive surface charge density . What is the
electric field at a point along the axis of the disk
a distance x from its center? Assume that x is
positive.

Magnitude:

Direction: along positive x-axis

Example 3: Infinite plane sheet

In the limit that the nonconducting disk in Example 2 is

very large or that field point is very close it such that R>>x,
we get

Magnitude:

Direction: everywhere perpendicular to sheet, away from it.

Example 4: Two oppositely charged

infinite sheets
Two

infinite plane sheets with uniform charge

densities + and are placed parallel to each
other with separation d. What is the electric field
above the upper sheet, below the lower sheet and
between the sheets?

Attendance Quiz: Line charge

Positive

charge Q is distributed uniformly along

the y-axis between y= and y= +. What is the
electric field at point P on the x-axis a distance x
from the origin?

Attendance Quiz
Answer the following:
(a)

What is the linear charge density , in terms of Q and

a?

(b)

Define a small charge element by considering a small

segment of length d. What is the charge d of this
segment, in terms of Q and a?

(c)

What is the electric field at point P due to this

segment? Write the field vector in component form.

(d)

What is the integral expression that gives the total

electric field due to the whole line charge?

Line charge

Positive charge Q is distributed uniformly along the

y-axis between y=-a and y=+a. What is the electric
field at point P on the x-axis a distance x from the
origin?

Magnitude:

Direction: along positive x-axis if > 0, along negative

x-axis is < 0.

Electric Field (line charge)

Very

long segment or field point very close to it

such that a>>x, the square root term becomes
negligible.

Electric Field (Infinite line charge)

At any point P at a perpendicular distance x=R

Eline

2 0 R

Objective
Evaluate the electric field at a point in space due to a system of
arbitrary charge distributions

End.

Attendance Quiz Coverage for Wednesday, January 28:

21-6 Electric Field Lines and

21-7 Electric Dipoles

Lecture outline:

1) Efield calculations index card exercises

2) Sec 21-6 Electric Field Lines

3) Sec 21-7 Electric Dipoles