see CHAPTER 22 ELECTRIC FIELDS ‘Sample Problem Electric field of a charged circular rod Figure 22-11a shows aplastic rod having « uniformly distib- uted charge ~Q. The rod has been bent ina 120° circular arc of rads. We place coordinate axes such thatthe axis of symmetry ofthe od is along the x axis and the origin is at the center of eurvature P ofthe rod. In terms of Q and r, whats the electric field E due tothe rod at point P? eae eee eee ae eas oe tnt find an eapection forthe elec elds dust fer a es ele ne ecu 7s |atansart| Conic e|feraral eenent ering se eae ar eed eee oe (et 22-11b and c). If we let A represent the linear charge density of i ea a crea dq = Ads. (22418) The element's feld: Our clement produces a diferent electri field dE! at point P, which isa distance r from the tlement, Treating the element as a point charge, we can rewrite Eq,22-3 0 express the magnitude of dE as ae 1 ds Fre Tra P (22:19) ‘The direction of dE is toward ds because charge dq is negative, Symmetric partner: Our clement has a symmetrically located (mirror image) element ds" inthe bottom half ofthe rod. “The electric field dE set up at P by ds’ also has the magnitude given by Eq, 22-19, but the field vector points toward ds" as shown in Fig, 22-11d. If we resolve the electric field vectors of ds and d into xand y components. as shown in Figs 22-11e and fswe see that their y components cancel (because they have equal ‘magnitudes and are in opposite directions). We also see that their x components have equal magnitudes and are in the same direction ‘Summing: Thus, to find the electric field set up by the rod, we need sum (via integration) only the x components of the differential electric fiekds set up by all the differential ele- ‘ments ofthe rod. From Fig.22-11fand E.22-19, we can write the component dE, set up by ds as ta AE 008 0 = cos Os ae, (2220) Equation 22-20 has two variables, @ and s. Before we can integrate it, we must eliminate one variable. We do so by replacing ds,using the relation ds=rd0, in which do is the angle at P that includes arc length ds (Fig. 22-11g). With this replacement, we can integrate Eq, 22-20 over the angle made by the rod at P, from @ = ~60° to {= 60°; that will give us the magnitude of the electric field at Pdue to the rod: = fae [f gdanora lle ae a sanz Seo 08 ag a = Ay bin sin) 173A rer (If-we had reversed the limits on the integration, we would Ihave gotten the same result but with a minus sign. Since the integration gives only the magnitude of E, we would then hhave discarded the minus sign.) Charge density: To evaluate A, we note that the rod subtends an angle of 120° and so is one-third ofa full circle. Its are length is then 2a7i3, and its linear charge density rust be (22-21) charge __ length 2m os770 Substituting this into Eg. 22-21 and simplifying give us (4.73)(0.4770) Ba ner _ 0830 tra? ‘The direction of Es toward the rod, along the axis of symmetry ‘of the charge distribution, We can write £ in unit-vector nota- tion as (Answer) 0839 are E ywww.elsolucionario.net22-6 THE ELECTRIC FIELD DUETO ALINE OF CHARGE 589 This negatively charged rod But we can treat this Hore is the fild the is obviously nota particle. clement as a particle, clement creates, + Sane Se o o « ‘These x components add. These y components ust Our job is to add all such cancel, so neglect ‘components, Hore is the field created by the symmetic element, ‘same size and angle. We use this to relate the ments arc length to | 4g the angle that it subtends, © Fig. 22-11 (a) A plasticrod of charge ~Q isa circular section of radius rand central ange 120° point Pisthe center of eurvature ofthe rod.(6)-(c) differential element inthe top half ofthe rod, tan angle to the x axis and of ac length ds, sets upa differential electric field dE at P(d) An ele- ment ds. symmetric ods about the axis.ses up a field "at P with the same magnitude. e)-(f) ‘The field components (2) Arclength ds makes an angle d#about point?