Bradley j. Nartowt electromagnetic theory I Jackson pr 1.3 dr.

thorn due: Monday, august 29, 2011

Charge distributions as Dirac delta-functions: Using Dirac delta functions in the appropriate coordinates, express the
following charge distributions as three-dimensional charge densities ( ) x .
a) in spherical coordinates, a charge Q uniformly-distributed over a spherical shell of radius R.
the charge is symmetric over solid angle, so we must have a charge density of the form ( ) ( ) ( ) k r R r o = = x ,

3 2 2
2 2
( ) ( ) 4 ( ) ( ) ( )
4 4
Q Q
Q r d x k r R r dr d k r R r dr k r r R
R R
o t o o
t t
= = O = = =

} } }
[I.1]
b) in cylindrical coordinates, a charge per unit (z) length uniformly-distributed over a cylindrical surface of radius b.
our is unit charge per unit z-length, so
2
2 2
( )
dq dq
dz
d x dz
d x d x

= = =
}} }}
x . Meanwhile, ( ) ( ) ( ) k s b s o = = x ,
and we integrate
2
d x ds sd| = , which gives us,

2
0 0
( ) 2 ( ) ( )
2 2
b s
dq
k s b ds s d b k k s s b
dz b b
t o

o | t o
t t
+
= = = = =
} }
[I.2]
c) in cylindrical coordinates, a charge Q spread uniformly over a flat circular disk of negligible thickness and radius R.
let the disk be located at z = 0. use
3
d x ds sd dz | = . The charge density must spike at z = 0 and shut off beyond s =
R, so guess ( , ) ( ) ( ) s z k z R s o = O while using the condition
3
( ) Q d x =
}
x . we immediately get,

2
2
1
2 2 2
0 0
( ) 2 ( ) ( , ) ( ) ( )
z R z
z z
Q Q
Q k z ds sd dz k R z dz k s z R s z
R R
o t o
o o
o | t o o
t t
+ +

= = = = O
} } } }
[I.3]
d) repeat part c using spherical coordinates.
we need only make one change to [I.3]: we need ( ) ( cos ) z r o o u = . Also, we need a trivial replacement: s r . using
the property
1
( ) ( ) x x
o
o o o and r r . we have the guess
2
1
( ) ( ) (cos ) ( , )
Q
r
R
R r r
t
u o u u = = x ; seeing if this
works,

( )( )
2
2
2 1
3 2
2 2
0 0 1
( )
(cos ) (cos ) 1
( ) 1 2 ( , )
2
(cos )
Q
R
R r
R r
Q r dr d d Q
d x R Q r
R r R
t
t
u
o u u |
t u
t t
o u
+

| |
| |
= = = =
|
|
|
\ .
\ .
} } } }
x
[I.4]