5.

3: Displacement Current
At the point form of ampere’s circuital law as it applies to steady magnetic field,

∇×H =𝐽

and show its inadequacy for time-varying conditions by taking the divergence of each
side,

∇∙∇×H =0= ∇∙𝐽

Since the divergence of the curl is identically zero, ∇ ∙ 𝐽 is also zero. However, the equation of
continuity,
𝜕𝜌
∇∙𝐽 =−
𝜕𝑡
𝜕𝜌⁄
Then shows us that ∇ × H = 𝐽 can be true only if 𝜕𝑡 = 0. This is an unrealistic
limitation and ∇ × H = 𝐽 must be amended before we can accept it for time-varying fields.
Suppose we add an unknown term G to∇ × H = 𝐽,

∇×H=𝐽+𝐺

Again taking the divergence, we have

0= ∇∙𝐽+∇∙𝐺
𝜕𝜌
0=− +∇∙𝐺
𝜕𝑡
Thus
𝜕𝜌
∇∙G=
𝜕𝑡
Substitute𝜌 = ∇ ∙ D
𝜕 ∂D
∇∙G= (∇ ∙ D) = ∇ ∙
𝜕𝑡 ∂t
From which we obtain the simplest solution for the added term G
∂D
𝐺 = 𝐽𝐷 =
∂t
Ampere’s circuital law in point form therefore becomes

∇ × H = 𝐽 + 𝐽𝐷

𝐽𝐷 is called the Displacement current density

 ∂D
𝐽𝐷 =
∂t
Substituting 𝐷 = 𝜀0 𝐸
∂E
𝐽𝐷 = 𝜀0
∂t

Ratio of JC to JD

Some materials are neither good conductor nor perfect dielectric, so that both
conduction current,𝐽𝐶 and displacement current,𝐽𝐷 exist. Assuming the time dependence ejwt
for E. The total current density is
𝜕
𝐽𝑡 = 𝐽𝐶 + 𝐽𝐷 = 𝜎𝐸 + (𝜀𝐸) = 𝜎𝐸 + 𝑗𝜔𝜀𝐸
𝜕𝑡
Which

𝐽𝐶 𝜎 10−9
= 𝜀 = 𝜀𝑟 𝜀0 𝜀0 =
𝐽𝐷 𝜔𝜀 36𝜋
The displacement current becomes increasingly important as the frequency increases.