Lecture 4

More on electric field of

charge distributions

August 17, 2016

Objectives

Evaluate the electric field at a point in space due to a system of

arbitrary charge distributions

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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.

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Electric field of a charged rod

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.

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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
x 2 + y 2.
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 4

x2

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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 =

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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.
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 )

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Electric field of a charged rod

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


Z +a
Q
x 2a
dy
x dq

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


Z
Z +a
Q
y 2a
dy
y dq
Ey =
k 2

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

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Electric field of a charged rod

Performing the integration, we get

Q
Ex = k
; Ey = 0 .
x x 2 + a2
Sanity check: 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.

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Exercise!

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.
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Exercise!

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.

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Exercise!

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 4

dq
x 2 + a2

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Exercise!
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

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Exercise!

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 )

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Exercise!
Note that k, x and a can be taken out of the integration because it is a
constant for any segment in the ring. So
Z
x
Ex = k 2
dq
(x + a2 )3/2 all charges
= k

xQ
.
(x 2 + 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.

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