PHYSICS 201

World of Physics: Electricity and Magnetism

IISER Pune
1 Derivation of formulae in Vector Analysis for Elec-
tromagnetism
1.1 Cartesian Coordinates
The coordinates are labelled x, y, z. The corresponding unit vectors in each direction are
x, y, z. A vector is always based at a point, so in principle each of the unit vectors is dened
as a function of (x, y, z), which tells us where it is based. However, note a special feature
of the Cartesian coordinate system: the unit vectors are exactly the same regardless of the
value of x, y, z. This property is not shared by other coordinate systems, as we will see.
Let us start at a point (x, y, z). The vector s joining the origin to this point is:
s = x x + y y + z z (1.1)
Next we make an innitesimal change in our location, moving to the point (x+dx, y+dy, z +
dz). Clearly the vector joining the initial to the nal point is:
ds = dx x + dy y + dz z (1.2)
Suppose we are given a function of one variable f(x). As is well-known, we can compare it
with its own value at a neighbouring point, f(x + dx). If we write f(x + dx) = f(x) + df,
then for small distances:
df =
f
x
dx (1.3)
We want to generalise this idea to a function of three variables, f(x, y, z). Since we are still
dealing with a single function, we have just one quantity called df, given by:
df =
f
x
dx +
f
y
dy +
f
z
dz (1.4)
However the separation of two neighbouring points is now a vector, given by ds above. Let
us try to guess the analogue of
f
x
. This should be a vector quantity

f dened such that:

df = ds

f (1.5)
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Using Eqs.(1.2),(1.4) in the above, we see that:

f =
f
x
x +
f
y
y +
f
z
z (1.6)
This is called the gradient of f. We can think abstractly of a gradient operator:

= x

x
+ y

y
+ z

z
(1.7)
which, acting on f, gives us

f. Note that we have moved the unit vectors x, y, z to the left

within each term, because the derivative operators are supposed to act only on the function f
and not on the unit vectors themselves. In the present case this does not really matter, since
we noted above that these vectors do not depend on x, y, z, but in more general situations
it will be important.
The gradient operator helps us measure how a function changes from one point to the next.
But what if we have a vector eld (such as the electric eld) that changes from one point to
the next? It turns out there are several useful measures of the variation of such elds. The
two most useful are called the divergence and curl. The divergence of a vector eld:

A = A
x
x + A
y
y + A
z
z (1.8)
is dened by:

A = ( x
x
+ y
y
+ z
z
) (A
x
x + A
y
y + A
z
z) (1.9)
Here we have used the shorthand
x
=

x
and similarly for y, z derivatives. We will keep
using this in future.
We now evaluate the dot product term by term. The result simplies considerably because
of the relations:
x y = y z = z x = 0, x x = y y = z z = 1 (1.10)
In principle we could also have terms like x
x
y, in which the derivative from the

operator
acts on one of the unit vectors in

A. But here we use the fact, mentioned above, that the
unit vectors in this coordinate system are independent of location:

x
x =
x
y =
x
z =
y
x = = 0 (1.11)
Thus we nally get the simple expression:

A =
x
A
x
+
y
A
y
+
z
A
z
(1.12)
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The other type of derivative of a vector eld is the curl, dened as the vector cross-product
between

and

A. This time one uses a dierent set of properties of the unit vectors:
x y = z, y z = x, z x = y, x x = y y = z z = 0 (1.13)
together with Eq.(1.11) to nd:

A = (
y
A
z

z
A
y
) x + (
z
A
x

x
A
z
) y + (
x
A
y

y
A
x
) z (1.14)
In physics, the fundamental equations are frequently of second order in derivatives. It is
therefore important to dene the second derivative on a function f. Since we have already
dened

f, we can take its divergence or curl to get such a second derivative. However the
curl turns out to be zero:

f = 0. This leaves only the divergence:

f which plays a
very important role in Physics. It is often abbreviated as
2
f and the operator
2
is called
the Laplacian. The rules to obtain the Laplacian are very simple:

2
f =

f = ( x
x
+ y
y
+ z
z
) (
x
f x +
y
f y +
z
f z) (1.15)
Now we simply use Eqs.(1.10) and (1.11) to evaluate the above and arrive at:

2
f =
2
x
f +
2
y
f +
2
z
f (1.16)
This allows us to dene the abstract dierential operator, the Laplacian, as:

2
=
2
x
+
2
y
+
2
z
(1.17)
1.2 Spherical Polar Coordinates
These coordinates are adapted to problems with spherical symmetry. The price we pay is
that the unit vectors in these coordinates change as we move around. This makes the basic
mathematical formulae more complicated than in Cartesian coordinates. The advantage,
however, outweighs the complication: once we master these (slightly complicated) formulae,
they can be easily applied to any physics problem with spherical symmetry. Thus, solution
of actual problems becomes much easier.
The coordinates (r, , ) are dened by:
x = r sin cos , y = r sin sin , z = r cos (1.18)
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These can be inverted to give:
r =

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
, = tan
1

x
2
+ y
2
z
, = tan
1
y
x
(1.19)
Using Ew.(1.18), it is straightforward to express the innitesimals dx, dy, dz in terms of
dr, d, d:
dx = sin cos dr + r cos cos d r sin sin d (1.20)
dy = sin sin dr + r cos sin d + r sin cos d (1.21)
dz = cos dr r sin d (1.22)
Substituting this into Eq.(1.2) and rearranging terms, we nd:
ds = (sin cos x + sin sin y + cos z) dr
+ (cos cos x + cos sin y sin z) r d
+ (sin x + cos y) r sin d (1.23)
Next we need to express the unit vectors r,

,

in terms of x, y, z. This will be a key result
that will enable us to derive everything else we need. To do this, notice that:
r = x x + y y + z z (1.24)
= r sin cos x + r sin sin y + r cos z (1.25)
Hence,
r =
r
r
= sin cos x + sin sin y + cos z (1.26)
Now the unit vectors

and

are both orthogonal (perpendicular) to r. Moreover, it is easy
to see from a picture that

is parallel to the x y plane, i.e. it has vanishing z-component.
These considerations are enough to x the vectors uniquely. We write:

= A x + B y (1.27)
Requiring it to be orthogonal to r means that:
(A x + B y) (sin cos x + sin sin y + cos z) = 0 (1.28)
which in turns leads to:
Acos + B sin = 0 (1.29)
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Thus upto an overall normalisation, A = sin , B = cos . The normalisation is xed by
requiring

to be of unit length. In fact with A, B as above, the vector:

= sin x + cos y (1.30)

is already of unit length. The only possible ambiguity is the sign, which we x by referring
to a picture. When increases, the vector

has a decreasing x-component and increasing
y-component. We see that the expression above satises this requirement.
Finally, we determine

by taking an arbitrary vector and requiring it to be orthogonal to
both r and

. This part is left as an exercise. After normalising to a unit vector and checking
that the sign is correct, we end up with:

= cos cos x + cos sin y sin z (1.31)

These unit vectors are important so let us collect all of them in a box:
r = sin cos x + sin sin y + cos z

= cos cos x + cos sin y sin z

= sin x + cos y
(1.32)
Notice that, since x, y, z are independent of location in space, it is clear that r,

,

are
explicitly dependent on , (though not on r). This fact was obvious by looking at a
picture, but now we know the exact position-dependence and this will be useful.
Going back now to Eq.(1.23), inserting the boxed equations we nd the simple result:
ds = dr r + r d

+ r sin d

(1.33)
We can now proceed to derive formulae for the gradient, divergence, curl and Laplacian in
spherical polar coordinates. First, consider a function f(r, , ) and impose:
df = ds

f (1.34)
Equating this to
r
f dr +

f d +

f d, we nd:

f =
r
f r +
1
r

f

+
1
r sin

f d

(1.35)
Thus in these coordinates, the gradient operator is:

= r
r
+

1
r

1
r sin

(1.36)
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Next consider a vector eld

A = A
r
r + A

+ A

. We calculate its divergence:

A =

r
r
+

1
r

1
r sin

(A
r
r + A

+ A

) (1.37)
To evaluate this we have to expand everything out. This is tedious but extremely straight-
forward. One thing we must now keep in mind is that

inside the gradient operator

will act not just on the components of

A, but also on the unit vectors! This is because the
unit vectors depend on , , as we have stressed many times above. Expanding the above
equation we nd:

A =
r
A
r
+
1
r
A
r

r +
1
r

+
1
r
A

+
1
r
A

+
1
r sin

A
r

r + A

+ A

(1.38)
Here we have used the fact that the unit vectors depend on and but not on r. Also we
used the basic relations (satised by any orthonormal set of unit vectors):
r r =

=



= 1, r

=



=

r = 0 (1.39)
Next we need to know the precise variations of the unit vectors with , . It is an easy
exercise to show, starting with the boxed equations, that:

r =

,

= r,

= 0

r = sin

,

= cos

,

= sin r cos

(1.40)
Using this we can evaluate all the dot products in Eq.(1.38) above, to get:

A =
r
A
r
+
1
r
A
r
+
1
r

+
1
r sin
(A
r
sin + A

cos +

) (1.41)
=
r
A
r
+
2
r
A
r
+
1
r

+
1
r sin

+
1
r tan
A

(1.42)
=
1
r
2

r
(r
2
A
r
) +
1
r sin

(sin A

) +
1
r sin

(1.43)
A similar exercise can be carried out for the curl, leading to the formula:

A =
1
r sin

(sin A

r +
1
r

1
sin

A
r

r
(rA

+
1
r

r
(rA

A
r

(1.44)
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Here we had to use the identities:
r r =

=



= 0 (1.45)
r

=

,



= r,

r =

(1.46)
Finally, for the Laplacian
2
f =

f, we easily nd:

2
f =
1
r
2

r
(r
2

r
f) +
1
r
2
sin

(sin

f) +
1
r
2
sin
2

f (1.47)
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