Unit II Electrostatics

In this chapter we will discuss on the followings:

• Coulomb's Law

• Electric Field & Electric Flux Density

• Gauss's Law with Application

• Electrostatic Potential, Equipotential Surfaces

• Boundary Conditions for Static Electric Fields

• Capacitance and Capacitors

• Electrostatic Energy

• Laplace's and Poisson's Equations

• Uniqueness of Electrostatic Solutions

• Method of Images

• Solution of Boundary Value Problems in Different Coordinate Systems

Introduction
In the previous chapter we have covered the essential mathematical tools needed to study
EM fields. We have already mentioned in the previous chapter that electric charge is a
fundamental property of matter and charge exist in integral multiple of electronic charge.
Electrostatics can be defined as the study of electric charges at rest. Electric fields have their
sources in electric charges.

( Note: Almost all real electric fields vary to some extent with time. However, for many
problems, the field variation is slow and the field may be considered as static. For some
other cases spatial distribution is nearly same as for the static case even though the actual
field may vary with time. Such cases are termed as quasi-static.)

In this chapter we first study two fundamental laws governing the electrostatic fields, viz, (1)
Coulomb's Law and (2) Gauss's Law. Both these law have experimental basis. Coulomb's
law is applicable in finding electric field due to any charge distribution, Gauss's law is easier
to use when the distribution is symmetrical.

Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's Law states that the force between two point charges Q1and Q2 is directly
proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.

Point charge is a hypothetical charge located at a single point in space. It is an idealised

model of a particle having an electric charge.

Mathematically, ,where k is the proportionality constant.

In SI units, Q1 and Q2 are expressed in Coulombs(C) and R is in meters.

Force F is in Newtons (N) and , is called the permittivity of free space.

(We are assuming the charges are in free space. If the charges are any other dielectric
medium, we will use instead where is called the relative permittivity or the
dielectric constant of the medium).

Therefore .......................(2.1)

As shown in the Figure 2.1 let the position vectors of the point charges Q1and Q2 are given

by and . Let represent the force on Q1 due to charge Q2.

Fig 2.1: Coulomb's Law

The charges are separated by a distance of . We define the unit vectors

as
 and ..................................(2.2)

can be defined as . Similarly the force on Q1 due to

charge Q2 can be calculated and if represents this force then we can write

When we have a number of point charges, to determine the force on a particular charge due
to all other charges, we apply principle of superposition. If we have N number of charges

Q1,Q2,.........QN located respectively at the points represented by the position vectors ,

,...... , the force experienced by a charge Q located at is given by,

.................................(2.3)

Electric Field

The electric field intensity or the electric field strength at a point is defined as the force per
unit charge. That is

or, .......................................(2.4)

The electric field intensity E at a point r (observation point) due a point charge Q located at
(source point) is given by:

..........................................(2.5)

For a collection of N point charges Q1 ,Q2 ,.........QN located at , ,...... , the electric field
intensity at point is obtained as

........................................(2.6)

The expression (2.6) can be modified suitably to compute the electric filed due to a
continuous distribution of charges.
In figure 2.2 we consider a continuous volume distribution of charge (t) in the region
denoted as the source region.

For an elementary charge , i.e. considering this charge as point charge, we

can write the field expression as:

.............(2.7)

Fig 2.2: Continuous Volume Distribution of Charge

When this expression is integrated over the source region, we get the electric field at the
point P due to this distribution of charges. Thus the expression for the electric field at P can
be written as:

..........................................(2.8)

Similar technique can be adopted when the charge distribution is in the form of a line charge
density or a surface charge density.

........................................(2.9)

........................................(2.10)

Electric flux density:

As stated earlier electric field intensity or simply ‘Electric field' gives the strength of the field
at a particular point. The electric field depends on the material media in which the field is
being considered. The flux density vector is defined to be independent of the material media
(as we'll see that it relates to the charge that is producing it).For a linear

isotropic medium under consideration; the flux density vector is defined as:

................................................(2.11)

We define the electric flux  as

.....................................(2.12)

Gauss's Law: Gauss's law is one of the fundamental laws of electromagnetism and it states
that the total electric flux through a closed surface is equal to the total charge enclosed by
the surface.

Fig 2.3: Gauss's Law

Let us consider a point charge Q located in an isotropic homogeneous medium of dielectric

constant . The flux density at a distance r on a surface enclosing the charge is given by

...............................................(2.13)

If we consider an elementary area ds, the amount of flux passing through the elementary
area is given by

.....................................(2.14)

But , is the elementary solid angle subtended by the area at the location of

Q. Therefore we can write

For a closed surface enclosing the charge, we can write

which can seen to be same as what we have stated in the definition of Gauss's Law.

Application of Gauss's Law

Gauss's law is particularly useful in computing or where the charge distribution has
some symmetry. We shall illustrate the application of Gauss's Law with some examples.

[Link] infinite line charge

As the first example of illustration of use of Gauss's law, let consider the problem of
determination of the electric field produced by an infinite line charge of density LC/m. Let us
consider a line charge positioned along the z-axis as shown in Fig. 2.4(a) (next slide). Since
the line charge is assumed to be infinitely long, the electric field will be of the form as shown
in Fig. 2.4(b) (next slide).

If we consider a close cylindrical surface as shown in Fig. 2.4(a), using Gauss's theorm we
can write,

.....................................(2.15)

Considering the fact that the unit normal vector to areas S1 and S3 are perpendicular to the
electric field, the surface integrals for the top and bottom surfaces evaluates to zero. Hence
we can write,

Fig 2.4: Infinite Line Charge

 .....................................(2.16)

2. Infinite Sheet of Charge

As a second example of application of Gauss's theorem, we consider an infinite charged

sheet covering the x-z plane as shown in figure 2.5.

Assuming a surface charge density of for the infinite surface charge, if we consider a
cylindrical volume having sides placed symmetrically as shown in figure 5, we can write:

..............(2.17)
 Fig 2.5: Infinite Sheet of Charge

It may be noted that the electric field strength is independent of distance. This is true for the
infinite plane of charge; electric lines of force on either side of the charge will be
perpendicular to the sheet and extend to infinity as parallel lines. As number of lines of force
per unit area gives the strength of the field, the field becomes independent of distance. For a
finite charge sheet, the field will be a function of distance.

3. Uniformly Charged Sphere

Let us consider a sphere of radius r0 having a uniform volume charge density of v C/m3. To
determine everywhere, inside and outside the sphere, we construct Gaussian surfaces of
radius r < r0 and r > r0 as shown in Fig. 2.6 (a) and Fig. 2.6(b).

For the region ; the total enclosed charge will be

.........................(2.18)
 Fig 2.6: Uniformly Charged Sphere

By applying Gauss's theorem,

...............(2.19)

Therefore

...............................................(2.20)

For the region ; the total enclosed charge will be

....................................................................(2.21)

By applying Gauss's theorem,

.....................................................(2.22)

FIGURE MISSING
 Fig 2.7: Variation of D for r0 = 1and

Electrostatic Potential and

Equipotential Surfaces
In the previous sections we have seen how the electric field intensity due to a charge or a
charge distribution can be found using Coulomb's law or Gauss's law. Since a charge placed
in the vicinity of another charge (or in other words in the field of other charge) experiences a
force, the movement of the charge represents energy exchange. Electrostatic potential is
related to the work done in carrying a charge from one point to the other in the presence of
an electric field.

Let us suppose that we wish to move a positive test charge from a point P to another
point Q as shown in the Fig. 2.8.

The force at any point along its path would cause the particle to accelerate and move it out
of the region if unconstrained. Since we are dealing with an electrostatic case, a force equal
to the negative of that acting on the charge is to be applied while moves from P to Q. The
work done by this external agent in moving the charge by a distance is given by:

.............................(2.23)

Fig 2.8: Movement of Test Charge in Electric Field

The negative sign accounts for the fact that work is done on the system by the external
agent.
 .....................................(2.24)

The potential difference between two points P and Q , VPQ, is defined as the work done per
unit charge, i.e.

...............................(2.25)

It may be noted that in moving a charge from the initial point to the final point if the potential
difference is positive, there is a gain in potential energy in the movement, external agent
performs the work against the field. If the sign of the potential difference is negative, work is
done by the field.

We will see that the electrostatic system is conservative in that no net energy is exchanged if
the test charge is moved about a closed path, i.e. returning to its initial position. Further, the
potential difference between two points in an electrostatic field is a point function; it is
independent of the path taken. The potential difference is measured in Joules/Coulomb
which is referred to as Volts.

Let us consider a point charge Q as shown in the Fig. 2.9.

Fig 2.9: Electrostatic Potential calculation for a point charge

Further consider the two points A and B as shown in the Fig. 2.9. Considering the movement
of a unit positive test charge from B to A , we can write an expression for the potential
difference as:
 ..................................(2.26)

It is customary to choose the potential to be zero at infinity. Thus potential at any point ( rA =
r) due to a point charge Q can be written as the amount of work done in bringing a unit
positive charge from infinity to that point (i.e. rB = 0).

..................................(2.27)

Or, in other words,

..................................(2.28)

Let us now consider a situation where the point charge Q is not located at the origin as
shown in Fig. 2.10.

Fig 2.10: Electrostatic Potential due a Displaced Charge

The potential at a point P becomes

..................................(2.29)

So far we have considered the potential due to point charges only. As any other type of
charge distribution can be considered to be consisting of point charges, the same basic
ideas now can be extended to other types of charge distribution also.

Let us first consider N point charges Q1, Q2,.....QN located at points with position vectors ,

,...... . The potential at a point having position vector can be written as:
 ..................................(2.30a)

or, ...........................................................(2.30b)

For continuous charge distribution, we replace point charges Qn by corresponding charge

elements or or depending on whether the charge distribution is linear,
surface or a volume charge distribution and the summation is replaced by an integral. With
these modifications we can write:

For line charge, ..................................(2.31)

For surface charge, .................................(2.32)

For volume charge, .................................(2.33)

It may be noted here that the primed coordinates represent the source coordinates and the
unprimed coordinates represent field point.

Further, in our discussion so far we have used the reference or zero potential at infinity. If
any other point is chosen as reference, we can write:

.................................(2.34)

where C is a constant. In the same manner when potential is computed from a known electric
field we can write:

.................................(2.35)

The potential difference is however independent of the choice of reference.

.......................(2.36)
We have mentioned that electrostatic field is a conservative field; the work done in moving a
charge from one point to the other is independent of the path. Let us consider moving a
charge from point P1 to P2 in one path and then from point P2 back to P1 over a different path.
If the work done on the two paths were different, a net positive or negative amount of work
would have been done when the body returns to its original position P1. In a conservative
field there is no mechanism for dissipating energy corresponding to any positive work neither
any source is present from which energy could be absorbed in the case of negative work.
Hence the question of different works in two paths is untenable, the work must have to be
independent of path and depends on the initial and final positions.

Since the potential difference is independent of the paths taken, VAB = - VBA , and over a
closed path,

.................................(2.37)

Applying Stokes's theorem, we can write:

............................(2.38)

from which it follows that for electrostatic field,

........................................(2.39)

Any vector field that satisfies is called an irrotational field.

From our definition of potential, we can write

.................................(2.40)

from which we obtain,

..........................................(2.41)

From the foregoing discussions we observe that the electric field strength at any point is the
negative of the potential gradient at any point, negative sign shows that is directed from
higher to lower values of . This gives us another method of computing the electric field, i.
e. if we know the potential function, the electric field may be computed. We may note here
that that one scalar function contain all the information that three components of carry,
the same is possible because of the fact that three components of are interrelated by the
relation .

Example: Electric Dipole

An electric dipole consists of two point charges of equal magnitude but of opposite sign and
separated by a small distance.

As shown in figure 2.11, the dipole is formed by the two point charges Q and -Q separated
by a distance d , the charges being placed symmetrically about the origin. Let us consider a
point P at a distance r, where we are interested to find the field.

Fig 2.11 : Electric Dipole

The potential at P due to the dipole can be written as:

..........................(2.42)

When r1 and r2>>d, we can write and .

Therefore,

....................................................(2.43)

We can write,
 ...............................................(2.44)

The quantity is called the dipole moment of the electric dipole.

Hence the expression for the electric potential can now be written as:

................................(2.45)

It may be noted that while potential of an isolated charge varies with distance as 1/r that of
an electric dipole varies as 1/r2 with distance.

If the dipole is not centered at the origin, but the dipole center lies at , the expression for
the potential can be written as:

........................(2.46)

The electric field for the dipole centered at the origin can be computed as

........................(2.47)

is the magnitude of the dipole moment. Once again we note that the electric field of
electric dipole varies as 1/r3 where as that of a point charge varies as 1/r2.

Equipotential Surfaces

An equipotential surface refers to a surface where the potential is constant. The intersection
of an equipotential surface with an plane surface results into a path called an equipotential
line. No work is done in moving a charge from one point to the other along an equipotential
line or surface.

In figure 2.12, the dashes lines show the equipotential lines for a positive point charge. By
symmetry, the equipotential surfaces are spherical surfaces and the equipotential lines are
circles. The solid lines show the flux lines or electric lines of force.
 Fig 2.12: Equipotential Lines for a Positive Point Charge

Michael Faraday as a way of visualizing electric fields introduced flux lines. It may be seen
that the electric flux lines and the equipotential lines are normal to each other.

In order to plot the equipotential lines for an electric dipole, we observe that for a given Q

and d, a constant V requires that is a constant. From this we can write to

be the equation for an equipotential surface and a family of surfaces can be generated for
various values of [Link] plotted in 2-D this would give equipotential lines.

To determine the equation for the electric field lines, we note that field lines represent the
direction of in space. Therefore,

, k is a constant .................................................................(2.48)

.................(2.49)

For the dipole under consideration =0 , and therefore we can write,

.........................................................(2.50)

Integrating the above expression we get , which gives the equations for electric
flux lines. The representative plot ( cv = c assumed) of equipotential lines and flux lines for a
dipole is shown in fig 2.13. Blue lines represent equipotential, red lines represent field lines.
 FIGURE MISSING

Fig 2.13: Equipotential Lines and Flux Lines for a Dipole

Boundary conditions for Electrostatic fields

In our discussions so far we have considered the existence of electric field in the homogeneous
medium. Practical electromagnetic problems often involve media with different physical properties.
Determination of electric field for such problems requires the knowledge of the relations of field
quantities at an interface between two media. The conditions that the fields must satisfy at the
interface of two different media are referred to as boundary conditions .

In order to discuss the boundary conditions, we first consider the field behavior in some
common material media.

In general, based on the electric properties, materials can be classified into three categories:
conductors, semiconductors and insulators (dielectrics). In conductor , electrons in the
outermost shells of the atoms are very loosely held and they migrate easily from one atom to
the other. Most metals belong to this group. The electrons in the atoms of insulators or
dielectrics remain confined to their orbits and under normal circumstances they are not
liberated under the influence of an externally applied field. The electrical properties of
semiconductors fall between those of conductors and insulators since semiconductors have
very few numbers of free charges.

The parameter conductivity is used characterizes the macroscopic electrical property of a

material medium. The notion of conductivity is more important in dealing with the current flow
and hence the same will be considered in detail later on.

If some free charge is introduced inside a conductor, the charges will experience a force due
to mutual repulsion and owing to the fact that they are free to move, the charges will appear
on the surface. The charges will redistribute themselves in such a manner that the field
within the conductor is zero. Therefore, under steady condition, inside a conductor .

From Gauss's theorem it follows that

= 0 .......................(2.51)

The surface charge distribution on a conductor depends on the shape of the conductor. The
charges on the surface of the conductor will not be in equilibrium if there is a tangential
component of the electric field is present, which would produce movement of the charges.
Hence under static field conditions, tangential component of the electric field on the
conductor surface is zero. The electric field on the surface of the conductor is normal
everywhere to the surface . Since the tangential component of electric field is zero, the
conductor surface is an equipotential surface. As = 0 inside the conductor, the
conductor as a whole has the same potential. We may further note that charges require a
finite time to redistribute in a conductor. However, this time is very small sec for good
conductor like copper.
 Fig 2.14: Boundary Conditions for at the surface of a Conductor
Let us now consider an interface between a conductor and free space as shown in the figure
[Link] us consider the closed path pqrsp for which we can write,

.................................(2.52)

For and noting that inside the conductor is zero, we can write

=0.......................................(2.53)

Et is the tangential component of the field. Therefore we find that

Et = 0 ...........................................(2.54)

In order to determine the normal component En, the normal component of , at the surface
of the conductor, we consider a small cylindrical Gaussian surface as shown in the Fig.12.
Let represent the area of the top and bottom faces and represents the height of the
cylinder. Once again, as , we approach the surface of the conductor. Since =0
inside the conductor is zero,

.............(2.55)

..................(2.56)

Therefore, we can summarize the boundary conditions at the surface of a conductor as:

Et = 0 ........................(2.57)

.....................(2.58)
Behavior of dielectrics in static electric field: Polarization of dielectric

Here we briefly describe the behavior of dielectrics or insulators when placed in static electric
field. Ideal dielectrics do not contain free charges. As we know, all material media are
composed of atoms where a positively charged nucleus (diameter ~ 10-15m) is surrounded by
negatively charged electrons (electron cloud has radius ~ 10-10m) moving around the
nucleus. Molecules of dielectrics are neutral macroscopically; an externally applied field
causes small displacement of the charge particles creating small electric [Link]
induced dipole moments modify electric fields both inside and outside dielectric material.

Molecules of some dielectric materials posses permanent dipole moments even in the
absence of an external applied field. Usually such molecules consist of two or more
dissimilar atoms and are called polar molecules. A common example of such molecule is
water molecule H2O. In polar molecules the atoms do not arrange themselves to make the
net dipole moment zero. However, in the absence of an external field, the molecules arrange
themselves in a random manner so that net dipole moment over a volume becomes zero.
Under the influence of an applied electric field, these dipoles tend to align themselves along
the field as shown in figure 2.15. There are some materials that can exhibit net permanent
dipole moment even in the absence of applied field. These materials are called electrets that
made by heating certain waxes or plastics in the presence of electric field. The applied field
aligns the polarized molecules when the material is in the heated state and they are frozen to
their new position when after the temperature is brought down to its normal temperatures.
Permanent polarization remains without an externally applied field.

As a measure of intensity of polarization, polarization vector (in C/m2) is defined as:

.......................(2.59)

FIGURE MISSING

Fig 2.15: Polarised Dielectric Medium

n being the number of molecules per unit volume i.e. is the dipole moment per unit
volume. Let us now consider a dielectric material having polarization and compute the
potential at an external point O due to an elementary dipole dv'.
 Fig 2.16: Potential at an External Point due to an Elementary Dipole dv'.

With reference to the figure 2.16, we can write: ..........................................

(2.60)

Therefore,

........................................(2.61)
........(2.62)
where x,y,z represent the coordinates of the external point O and x',y',z' are the coordinates
of the source point.

From the expression of R, we can verify that

.............................................(2.63)

.........................................(2.64)

Using the vector identity, ,where f is a scalar quantity , we have,

.......................(2.65)

Converting the first volume integral of the above expression to surface integral, we can write
 .................(2.66)

where is the outward normal from the surface element ds' of the dielectric. From the
above expression we find that the electric potential of a polarized dielectric may be found
from the contribution of volume and surface charge distributions having densities

......................................................................(2.67)

......................(2.68)

These are referred to as polarisation or bound charge densities. Therefore we may replace a
polarized dielectric by an equivalent polarization surface charge density and a polarization
volume charge density. We recall that bound charges are those charges that are not free to
move within the dielectric material, such charges are result of displacement that occurs on a
molecular scale during polarization. The total bound charge on the surface is

......................(2.69)

The charge that remains inside the surface is

......................(2.70)

The total charge in the dielectric material is zero as

......................(2.71)

If we now consider that the dielectric region containing charge density the total volume
charge density becomes

....................(2.72)

Since we have taken into account the effect of the bound charge density, we can write

....................(2.73)

Using the definition of we have

 ....................(2.74)

Therefore the electric flux density

When the dielectric properties of the medium are linear and isotropic, polarisation is directly
proportional to the applied field strength and

........................(2.75)

is the electric susceptibility of the dielectric. Therefore,

.......................(2.76)

is called relative permeability or the dielectric constant of the medium. is

called the absolute permittivity.

A dielectric medium is said to be linear when is independent of and the medium is

homogeneous if is also independent of space coordinates. A linear homogeneous and
isotropic medium is called a simple medium and for such medium the relative permittivity is
a constant.

Dielectric constant may be a function of space coordinates. For anistropic materials, the
dielectric constant is different in different directions of the electric field, D and E are related
by a permittivity tensor which may be written as:

.......................(2.77)

For crystals, the reference coordinates can be chosen along the principal axes, which make
off diagonal elements of the permittivity matrix zero. Therefore, we have

.......................(2.78)

Media exhibiting such characteristics are called biaxial. Further, if then the medium is
called uniaxial. It may be noted that for isotropic media, .
Lossy dielectric materials are represented by a complex dielectric constant, the imaginary
part of which provides the power loss in the medium and this is in general dependant on
frequency.

Another phenomenon is of importance is dielectric breakdown. We observed that the

applied electric field causes small displacement of bound charges in a dielectric material that
results into polarization. Strong field can pull electrons completely out of the molecules.
These electrons being accelerated under influence of electric field will collide with molecular
lattice structure causing damage or distortion of material. For very strong fields, avalanche
breakdown may also occur. The dielectric under such condition will become conducting.

The maximum electric field intensity a dielectric can withstand without breakdown is referred
to as the dielectric strength of the material.

Boundary Conditions for Electrostatic Fields:

Let us consider the relationship among the field components that exist at the interface
between two dielectrics as shown in the figure 2.17. The permittivity of the medium 1 and
medium 2 are and respectively and the interface may also have a net charge density
Coulomb/m.

Fig 2.17: Boundary Conditions at the interface between two dielectrics

We can express the electric field in terms of the tangential and normal components

..........(2.79)

where Et and En are the tangential and normal components of the electric field respectively.

Let us assume that the closed path is very small so that over the elemental path length the
variation of E can be neglected. Moreover very near to the interface, . Therefore

.......................(2.80)
Thus, we have,

or i.e. the tangential component of an electric field is continuous

across the interface.

For relating the flux density vectors on two sides of the interface we apply Gauss’s law to a
small pillbox volume as shown in the figure. Once again as , we can write

..................(2.81a)

i.e., .................................................(2.81b)

.e., .......................(2.81c)

Thus we find that the normal component of the flux density vector D is discontinuous
across an interface by an amount of discontinuity equal to the surface charge density
at the interface.

Example

Two further illustrate these points; let us consider an example, which involves the refraction
of D or E at a charge free dielectric interface as shown in the figure 2.18.

Using the relationships we have just derived, we can write

.......................(2.82a)

.......................(2.82b)

In terms of flux density vectors,

.......................(2.83a)

.......................(2.83b)

Therefore, .......................(2.84)
 Fig 2.18: Refraction of D or E at a Charge Free Dielectric Interface

Capacitance and Capacitors

We have already stated that a conductor in an electrostatic field is an Equipotential body and
any charge given to such conductor will distribute themselves in such a manner that electric
field inside the conductor vanishes. If an additional amount of charge is supplied to an
isolated conductor at a given potential, this additional charge will increase the surface charge

density . Since the potential of the conductor is given by , the potential

of the conductor will also increase maintaining the ratio same. Thus we can write
where the constant of proportionality C is called the capacitance of the isolated conductor. SI
unit of capacitance is Coulomb/ Volt also called Farad denoted by F. It can It can be seen
that if V=1, C = Q. Thus capacity of an isolated conductor can also be defined as the amount
of charge in Coulomb required to raise the potential of the conductor by 1 Volt.

Of considerable interest in practice is a capacitor that consists of two (or more) conductors
carrying equal and opposite charges and separated by some dielectric media or free space.
The conductors may have arbitrary shapes. A two-conductor capacitor is shown in figure
2.19.
 Fig 2.19: Capacitance and Capacitors

When a d-c voltage source is connected between the conductors, a charge transfer occurs
which results into a positive charge on one conductor and negative charge on the other
conductor. The conductors are equipotential surfaces and the field lines are perpendicular to
the conductor surface. If V is the mean potential difference between the conductors, the

capacitance is given by . Capacitance of a capacitor depends on the geometry of the

conductor and the permittivity of the medium between them and does not depend on the
charge or potential difference between conductors. The capacitance can be computed by
assuming Q(at the same time -Q on the other conductor), first determining using Gauss’s

theorem and then determining . We illustrate this procedure by taking the

example of a parallel plate capacitor.
Example: Parallel plate capacitor

Fig 2.20: Parallel Plate Capacitor

For the parallel plate capacitor shown in the figure 2.20, let each plate has area A and a
distance h separates the plates. A dielectric of permittivity fills the region between the
plates. The electric field lines are confined between the plates. We ignore the flux fringing at
the edges of the plates and charges are assumed to be uniformly distributed over the

conducting plates with densities and - , .

By Gauss’s theorem we can write, .......................(2.85)

As we have assumed to be uniform and fringing of field is neglected, we see that E is

constant in the region between the plates and therefore, we can write . Thus,

for a parallel plate capacitor we have,

........................(2.86)
Series and parallel Connection of capacitors

Capacitors are connected in various manners in electrical circuits; series and parallel
connections are the two basic ways of connecting capacitors. We compute the equivalent
capacitance for such connections.

Series Case: Series connection of two capacitors is shown in the figure 2.21. For this case
we can write,

.......................(2.87)

Fig 2.21: Series Connection of Capacitors

Fig 2.22: Parallel Connection of Capacitors

The same approach may be extended to more than two capacitors connected in series.
Parallel Case: For the parallel case, the voltages across the capacitors are the same.

The total charge

Therefore, .......................(2.88)

Electrostatic Energy and Energy Density

We have stated that the electric potential at a point in an electric field is the amount of work
required to bring a unit positive charge from infinity (reference of zero potential) to that point.
To determine the energy that is present in an assembly of charges, let us first determine the
amount of work required to assemble them. Let us consider a number of discrete charges
Q1, Q2,......., QN are brought from infinity to their present position one by one. Since initially
there is no field present, the amount of work done in bring Q1 is zero. Q2 is brought in the
presence of the field of Q1, the work done W1= Q2V21 where V21 is the potential at the location
of Q2 due to Q1. Proceeding in this manner, we can write, the total work done

.....................................
............(2.89)

Had the charges been brought in the reverse order,

.................(2.90)

Therefore,

....
............(2.91)

Here VIJ represent voltage at the Ith charge location due to Jth charge. Therefore,

Or, ................(2.92)

If instead of discrete charges, we now have a distribution of charges over a volume v then we
can write,
 ................(2.93)

where is the volume charge density and V represents the potential function.

Since, , we can write

.......................................(2.94)

Using the vector identity,

, we can write

................(2.95)

In the expression , for point charges, since V varies as and D varies as ,

the term V varies as while the area varies as r2. Hence the integral term varies at least

as and the as surface becomes large (i.e. ) the integral term tends to zero.

Thus the equation for W reduces to

................(2.96)

, is called the energy density in the electrostatic field.

Poisson’s and Laplace’s Equations

For electrostatic field, we have seen that

 ..........................................................................................(2.97)

Form the above two equations we can write

..................................................................(2.98)

Using vector identity we can write, ................(2.99)

For a simple homogeneous medium, is constant and . Therefore,

................(2.100)

This equation is known as Poisson’s equation. Here we have introduced a new operator,
( del square), called the Laplacian operator. In Cartesian coordinates,

...............(2.101)

Therefore, in Cartesian coordinates, Poisson equation can be written as:

...............(2.102)

In cylindrical coordinates,

...............(2.103)

In spherical polar coordinate system,

...............(2.104)

At points in simple media, where no free charge is present, Poisson’s equation reduces to

...................................(2.105)

which is known as Laplace’s equation.

Laplace’s and Poisson’s equation are very useful for solving many practical electrostatic field
problems where only the electrostatic conditions (potential and charge) at some boundaries
are known and solution of electric field and potential is to be found throughout the volume.
We shall consider such applications in the section where we deal with boundary value
problems.

ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS

1. A charged ring of radius carrying a charge of C/m lies in the x-y plane with its
centre at the origin and a charge C is placed at the point . Determine
in terms of and so that a test charge placed at does not experience
any force.

2. A semicircular ring of radius lies in the free space and carries a charge density
C/m. Find the electric field at the centre of the semicircle.

3. Consider a uniform sphere of charge with charge density and radius b , centered
at the origin. Find the electric field at a distance r from the origin for the two cases:
r<b and r>b . Sketch the strength of the electric filed as function of r .

4. A spherical charge distribution is given by

is the radius of the sphere. Find the following:

i. The total charge.

ii. for and .
iii. The value of where the becomes maximum.

5. With reference to the Figure 2.6 determine the potential and field at the point
if the shaded region contains uniform charge density /m2 .
 FIgure 2.6

6. A capacitor consists of two coaxial metallic cylinders of length , radius of the inner
conductor and that of outer conductor . A dielectric material having dielectric
constant , where is the radius, fills the space between the
conductors. Determine the capacitance of the capacitor.

7. Determine whether the functions given below satisfy Laplace 's equation

i)

ii)