Lecture 3

Electric field of continuous charge distributions

August 11, 2015

Electric field of a charged rod

Example
A positive charge Q is uniformly distributed on a rod of length a. What is
the electric field along the rod, a distance b from the right end of the
segment?

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Electric field of a charged rod

Solution:
Divide the rod into many, many segments. Each segment would be very,
very short. Lets call their length dx.
Since one segment is very, very short, it can treated as a point particle,
with a very, very small electric field
dq
d E~ = k 2
r
where dq is that very, very small charge of that very, very small segment.
Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Electric field of a charged rod

But what is the separation r ? For a segment at some location x, its

separation from point P is (a x) + b.
dq
d E~ = k

[(a x) + b]2
Now we want to sum up the contributions of all the segments. We
integrate the above expression over all segments:
Z
dq
~
E=
k

[(a

x) + b]2
all charges
Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

4 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

We want the integration to be over the length of the rod. We can do this
by using the fact that the linear charge density of the rod is a constant:
dq
Q
Q
=
dq = dx
dx
a
a
So we can write the previous integration to


Z
Z a
Q
dq
a dx
~
E=
k

k
2
[(a x) + b]2
all charges [(a x) + b]
0
Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

5 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

Performing the integration, we get



kQ 1
1
~
E=

.
a
b a+b
What happens when b is large?
kQ
a
kQ
E~ =
= 2 i.
b
:

a b(
b
b)
a+
The electric field is similar to a point particle.
Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Electric field of a charged rod

Example
A positive charge Q is
distributed uniformly
along the y -axis between
y = a and y = +a Find
the electric field at point
P on the x-axis at a
distance x from the
origin.

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

7 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

8 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

Solution:
Divide the rod into many, many segments. Each segment would be very,
very short. Lets call their length dy .
Since one segment is very, very short, it can treated as a point particle,
with a very, very small electric field magnitude
dE = k

dq
r2

where dq is that very, very small charge of that very, very small segment.

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

9 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

But what is the separation r ? For a
segment at some location y , its
separation
from point P is
p
2
2
x +y .
dE = k

x2

dq
+ y2

Decompose the equation into its xand y - components:

dq
cos
+ y2
dq
dEy = k 2
sin
x + y2

dEx = k

Lecture 3

x2

August 11, 2015

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Electric field of a charged rod

We can write cos and sin in terms of x and y :

x
x
=p
2
r
x + y2
y
y
sin = = p
2
r
x + y2

cos =

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

11 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

So
dq
x dq
cos k 2
x2 + y2
(x + y 2 )3/2
dq
y dq
dEy = k 2
sin k 2
2
x +y
(x + y 2 )3/2

dEx = k

Now we want to sum up the contributions of all the segments. We

integrate the above expression over all segments:
Z
x dq
Ex =
k 2
2 3/2
all charges (x + y )
Z
y dq
Ey =
k 2
2 3/2
all charges (x + y )

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

12 / 20

Electric field of a charged rod

We want the integration to be over the length of the rod. We can do this
by using the fact that the linear charge density of the rod is a constant:
Q
Q
dq
=
dq = dy
dy
2a
2a
So we can write the previous integration to


Z +a
Q
x 2a
dy
x dq
Ex =
k 2

k 2
2 3/2
(x + y 2 )3/2
all charges (x + y )
a


Z +a
Z
Q
y 2a
dy
y dq

k 2
Ey =
k 2
2 3/2
(x + y 2 )3/2
a
all charges (x + y )
Z

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Electric field of a charged rod

Performing the integration, we get

Q
Ex = k
; Ey = 0 .
x x 2 + a2
What happens when x is large?
Ex = k q

Q
: x 2


=k

x 
x 2+a2

Q
x2

The electric field is similar to a point particle.

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Quiz!

A positive charge Q is uniformly distributed around a conducting ring of

radius a. Find the electric field at a point P on the ring axis at a distance
x from its center.
Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

15 / 20

Quiz!

Solution:
Divide the ring into many, many segments. Each segment would be very,
very short. Lets call their length ds.
Since one segment is very, very short, it can treated as a point particle,
with a very, very small electric field magnitude
dE = k

dq
r2

where dq is that very, very small charge of that very, very small segment.

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

16 / 20

Quiz!

But what is the separation r ?

For a segment at some
location y , its separation

from point P is x 2 + a2 .
dE = k

Lecture 3

dq
x 2 + a2

August 11, 2015

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Quiz!
By symmetry, the net electric
field will lie on the x-axis.
Thus we only need to
compute for the x-component
of the contribution of each
segment:
dq
cos
x 2 + a2
dq x
=k 2
x + a2 r
dq
x

=k 2
2
2
x + a x + a2
x dq
=k 2
(x + a2 )3/2

dEx = k

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

18 / 20

Quiz!
Now we want to sum up the contributions of all the segments. We
integrate the above expression over all segments:
Z
x dq
Ex =
k 2
2 3/2
all charges (x + a )
We want the integration to be over the length of the ring. We can do this
by using the fact that the linear charge density of the ring is a constant:
Q
Q
dq
=
dq =
ds
ds
2a
2a
So we can write the previous integration to
Z
Ex =
0

2a

Q
x 2a
ds
k 2
(x + a2 )3/2

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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Quiz!
Note that x can be taken out of the integration because it is a constant
for any segment in the ring. So

Z 2a
Q
x 2a
Ex = k 2
ds
(x + a2 )3/2 0


Q
x 2a


2a)
= k 2 2 3/2 (
(x + a )
= k

(x 2

xQ
.
+ a2 )3/2

What happens when x is large?

Ex = k

xQ
: x 23/2

(
x 2+a2
)

=k

Q
.
x2

The electric field is similar to a point particle.

Lecture 3

August 11, 2015

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