ELECTRICITY AND

MAGNETISM
[PHM_022s]
Lecture 3
Continuous Charge Distribution
OUTLINE
• Electric Field Lines
• Continuous Charge Distribution
• Examples

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge 2

Electric Field Lines (Lines of Force)
The concept of lines of force was introduced by Michael Faraday (1791-1867) as an aid
in, visualizing electric fields.
• A line of force is an imaginary line drawn in such a
way that the direction of the electric field 𝐸ത at any
point is the tangent to the line of force at that point
• The sense of a line of force indicates the direction
in which a positive test charge tends to move if An
placed at a point on the line.
• The lines of force start from positive charges and terminate on negative charges
• The lines of force never cross each other
• The magnitude of the field intensity at any point is numerically equal to the
number of lines entering normally per unit area at that point. The more dense
the lines, the stronger the field.

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 3

 Continuous Charge Distribution
Coulomb's law is useful for calculating the electric force due to a small number of point
charges. In many cases, we have a continuous distribution of charge (charged bodies) rather
than a collection of discrete charges.
The following definitions are very important in calculating electric forces of charged bodies.

➢ If a charge q is uniformly distributed throughout a volume

V, the volume charge density ρ is defined by
𝑑𝑞
𝑞 q
𝜌=
𝑉

where ρ has units of coulombs per cubic meter (C/m3). dV

V

The amount of charge dq in an infinitesimal volume dV

𝑑𝑞 = 𝜌𝑑𝑉

Note: dq can be considered as a point charge

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 4

 ➢ If a charge q is uniformly distributed on a surface of
area A, the surface charge density σ is defined by dA q
A
𝑞
𝜎=
𝐴
𝑑𝑞
where σ has units of coulombs per square meter (C/m2).

The amount of charge dq in an infinitesimal area dA

𝑑𝑞 = 𝜎𝑑𝐴
𝑑𝑞
➢ If a charge q is uniformly distributed along a line of dL
length L , the linear charge density λ is defined by q
𝑞 L
𝜆=
𝐿
where λ has units of coulombs per meter (C/m).

The amount of charge dq in an infinitesimal length dL

𝑑𝑞 = 𝜆𝑑𝐿

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 5

Electric field due to continuous Charge distribution
• The electric field at a point P due to a continuous 𝜌𝑑𝑉
charge distribution is
𝑑𝑞
𝐸 = න 𝑑𝐸 = න 𝑘 2 𝐫ො
𝑟
dq
𝐫ො
where dq is the charge on one element 𝑟
of the charge distribution and r is the P
distance from the element to the point P. 𝑑𝐸

𝐸
Particle in an Electric Field
When a particle with charge q is placed in
𝑭 (q is negative) 𝑞 𝑭 (q is positive)
uniform electric field E, it experiences an
electric force given by

𝐹Ԧ = 𝑞𝐸

It is clear from last equation that 𝐸 and 𝐹Ԧ are in the same direction when the charge
q is positive and in opposite directions when q is negative.

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 6

 y
Example 4
Next figure shows a rod of length L, has 𝑄
a uniform positive linear charge density dq = λd𝑥 𝜆=
𝐿
λ and a total charge Q. Calculate the d𝑥
electric force on point charge qo that is qo 𝑥
located along the long axis of the rod dF 𝑥
and a distance a from one end 𝑎 L

Solution
Let’s assume the rod is lying along the 𝑥 axis, d𝑥 is the length of one small segment,
and dq = 𝜆d𝑥 is the charge on that segment.
𝑞𝑜 𝑑𝑞 𝑞𝑜 𝜆𝑑𝑥
The magnitude of the electric force on qo due to this segment = 𝑑𝐹 = 𝑘 =𝑘
𝑥2 𝑥2
𝐿+𝑎 𝑞𝑜 𝜆𝑑𝑥 −1 −1 1 𝐿
The total force = 𝐹 = ‫𝑎׬‬ 𝑘 = 𝑘𝑞𝑜 𝜆[ ]𝐿+𝑎
𝑎 = 𝑘𝑞𝑜 𝜆 + = 𝑘𝑞𝑜 𝜆
𝑥2 𝑥 𝐿+𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝐿+𝑎
𝑘𝑞𝑜 𝑄 𝑘𝑞𝑜 𝑄
∴𝐹= 𝑜𝑟 𝐹Ԧ = − 𝐢Ƹ
𝑎[𝐿 + 𝑎] 𝑎[𝐿 + 𝑎]

Note: If qo is far from the rod (𝑎 >> L ), then L in the denominator of last Eq. can be
neglected and 𝐹 = 𝑘qo𝑄/𝑎2. That is exactly the form we would expect for two-point charges.
At large values of “a” the charged rod appears to be a point charge.

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 7

 Example 5
A ring of radius R carries a uniformly distributed positive total charge Q. Calculate the
electric field due to the ring at a point P lying a distance 𝑥 from its center along the
central axis perpendicular to the plane of the ring
Segment 1
Solution dq

The figure shows the electric field contribution

R
dE at P due to a segment of charge dq at the top
of the ring.
×
dE⊥
dE
𝑥 P dEx
dEx x
This electric field dE can be resolved into
components dEx parallel to the axis of the ring
×
dE⊥ dE
dq
and dE⊥ perpendicular to the axis. Segment 2

Consider another segment at the bottom of the ring as shown in the figure.

The perpendicular component of the field at P due to segment 1 is canceled by the

perpendicular component due to segment 2

That is true for all pairs of segments around the ring, so we can ignore the
perpendicular component of the field and focus solely on the parallel components

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 8

 Example 5
A ring of radius R carries a uniformly distributed positive total charge Q. Calculate the
electric field due to the ring at a point P lying a distance 𝑥 from its center along the
central axis perpendicular to the plane of the ring
Solution dq
The electric field at P on the x axis due to an element
𝑑𝑞 R 𝑎
of charge dq is 𝑑𝐸 = 𝑘 𝑎2
𝑑𝑞 𝜃 P dEx
𝑑𝐸𝑥 = 𝑑𝐸 cos 𝜃 = 𝑘 2 cos 𝜃 𝑥
𝑎 x
𝑑𝑞 𝑥 𝑘𝑥𝑑𝑞 dE⊥ dE
=𝑘 2 2 = 𝑎2 = 𝑅 2 + 𝑥 2
(𝑅 +𝑥 ) 𝑅 2 + 𝑥 2 1/2 𝑅2 + 𝑥 2 3/2
𝑥 𝑥
& cos 𝜃 = = 2
𝑘𝑥 𝑎 𝑅 + 𝑥2 1/2

𝐸 = න 𝑑𝐸𝑥 = න 𝑑𝑞
𝑅2 + 𝑥 2 3/2

𝑘𝑥
𝐸= 𝑄
𝑅2 + 𝑥 2 3/2

➢ This result shows that the electric field is zero at 𝑥 = 0, that is consistent with the
symmetry in the problem.
➢ last Equation reduces to 𝑘𝑄/𝑥2 if 𝑥 ≫ 𝑅, so the ring acts like a point charge for
locations faraway from the ring.

PHM_022s - Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (3): Continous Charge Distribution 9