ELECTROMAGNETICS

Lecture 6
Dr. Ahmed Said Eltrass
Electrical Engineering Department
Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
Fall 2015
Office hours: Sunday (10:00 to 12:00 a.m )
4th floor, Electrical Engineering Building

Chapter 4
Energy and Potential
Energy Exchange in the Electric Field
If a charge (Q) is placed in an electric field (E), a force (F) will be
excited on it where

F QE
Due to this force, the charge will start moving and gains some kinetic
energy which comes from the work done by the electric field (WE).

To calculate the work done by the electric field (E) to move the charge
from point (1) to point (2):

(1)
dl
(2)

dWE F dl

Differential work done by

the electric field to move
the charge a differential
distance (dl)

Dot product to take only the

component of the force in the
direction of movement


dWE QE dl
2

WE Q E dl

(1)

(1): initial point

(2): final point

Work done by E to move

the charge (Q) from point
(1) to point (2)

(2)

Integration is made because E may be a function that varies along

the path.
When calculating the work, we take the force component in the
direction of movement ( This is done through the dot product)

 Now, lets suppose that we want to move the charge (Q) by an

external force in presence of E, then a force (Fext) is required:

Fext QE

Will make the charge balanced

(just ready to move)

W Q E dl
2

External work done to

move the charge (Q) from
point (1) to point (2) in
presence of E.

Notes
1- If W>0 (W:+ve )
This means that we must do a +ve external work to move the charge
externally because the motion is against the electric field

E dl ( ve)

2- If W<0 (W: -ve )

We do not have to do work to move the charge because it already
moves. The motion is in the same direction of the electric field

E dl ( ve)

3- If W=0

E dl 0 E dl

The motion is perpendicular to the direction of the electric field so the

force component in the direction of motion will be zero

Example:

1 - Given : E ya x xa y 2a z
Determine the work done to move a charge Q 2C from
B(1,0,1) A(0.8,0.6,1) along the following paths :
i - A straight line between the two points
ii - A circle x 2 y 2 1, z 1

Recall
given in exams

From this example: The work done to move charge between 2 points is
independent of the path of movement !

Potential Difference
Potential difference VAB is the work done (by an external
source) in moving a unit positive charge (+1 C) from point (B)
to point (A) in the presence of E.

VAB E dl VA VB
A

Volt (V)

VAB is the work done in moving the unit charge from point B
(initial) to point A (final).
VAB signifies the potential difference between points A and B
The potential difference is also independent from the path
between the two points (same as the work)
Example: In electrical circuits

Absolute Potential and Point Charge

Example:
2- Given a point charge (Q) at the origin (0,0,0).
i- Find the potential difference between points A and B at radial distances rA and
rB from the point charge Q.
ii- Find the absolute potential of the point A.
iii- Find the equation of the Equipotential surface.

Notes
1- The absolute potential for any point
A

VA E dl Assume that reference is located in

If a reference point is given in the problem, you must consider it as the zero
potential point and get the absolute potential with respect to it.
If not given: take the reference
( This is allowed if the source of the field is finite: charge distribution is finite )

2- Equipotential surface: is a surface composed of all those points

having the same value of potential
No work is required to move a charge between 2 points located on the
Equipotential surface
Generally, the Equipotential surface is perpendicular to electric field

Example :
3-Given an infinite line on the z-axis having a uniform charge distribution, find
the potential difference between two points A and B. Find the equation of the
A
Equipotential surface.
A
Z

l
Given : E
a
2

Conservative Field
Potential Difference between point A and point B

E dl
A

VAB VA VB

When A = B, no work is done in carrying the unit charge around any

closed path.

E dl 0
E that satisfies the above equation is said to be a conservative field.
No work is done (energy is conserved) around a closed path (All
points on the path have the same potential energy level)

For Point Charge Q:

4r
r is the distance from the point charge
(Q) to the observation point

Equipotential surface is a sphere

(r=constant)

Absolute Potential due to Multiple Point Charges

V p V1 V2 V3 ........... VN
Q3
QN
Q1
Q2
Vp

.........
(Scalar addition)
4r1 4r2 4r3
4rN
P

r1
Q1

r2
Q2

r3

rN
QN

Q3

Absolute Potential due to a distributed charge

If the charge is distributed over a line or a surface or a volume and the required
is to calculate V at certain point, we will make the following steps:

1 - Choose an element from the charged body (dl , ds, dv)

2 - Find the charge of this element (consider it as a point charge)
dQ dl
(Line charge)

3 - dV

dQ s dS

(Surface Charge)

dQ v dV

(Volume Charge)

dQ
4r

4 V dV

This is only a single integration because V is scalar

Charged Body

5 - You can get the electric field E V

P
Observation point
dQ