Advanced Technology M7 "Fields and Waves"

Vector field theory

Assignments set 1

1. a) Find a parametrization of half a counter clockwise circle centered at the

origin with radius R:
.

Answer:

𝑥𝑥 = −𝑅𝑅 cos 𝑡𝑡 , 𝑦𝑦 = −𝑅𝑅 sin 𝑡𝑡,

𝑡𝑡 ∈ [0, 𝜋𝜋]

b) Find a parametrization for the same circle, but now clockwise.

Answer:

𝑥𝑥 = 𝑅𝑅 cos 𝑡𝑡 , 𝑦𝑦 = −𝑅𝑅 sin 𝑡𝑡,

𝑡𝑡 ∈ [0, 𝜋𝜋]
2. Consider the following parametrization:
x = r sin θ cos φ
y = r sin θ sin φ
z = r cosθ

a) Specify the ranges of the parameters r, θ and ϕ to describe a spherical shell
with radius R.

Answer:
r=R
θ ∈ [0, π ]
ϕ ∈ [0, 2π ]

b) Specify the ranges of the parameters r, θ and ϕ to describe a sphere (including
interior) with radius R.

Answer:
r ∈ [0, R]
θ ∈ [0, π ]
ϕ ∈ [0, 2π ]

c) Specify the ranges of the parameters r, θ and ϕ to describe a half sphere
(including interior) with radius R and x≥0.

Answer:
r ∈ [0, R]
θ ∈ [0, π ]
ϕ ∈ [−π / 2, π / 2]
3. Given:
!
u = (x, y, z)
!
v = (yz, xz, xy)
f (x, y, z) = (x 2 + y 2 + z 2 )β

a) Determine the divergence and curl of vector fields u and v.

Answer:
!
∇⋅u = 3
!
∇⋅v = 0
!
∇ × u = (0, 0, 0)
!
∇ × v = (0, 0, 0)

b) Determine the cross product u×v and then determine the divergence of that
field.

Answer:
! !
u × v = (xy 2 − xz 2 , yz 2 − yx 2 , zx 2 − zy 2 )
! !
∇ ⋅ (u × v ) = 0

c) Determine the gradient of f (β is an arbitrary parameter).

Answer:
r = x 2 + y2 + z2
f = r2β
∂ d ∂
f = r2β r =
∂x dr ∂x
(2β r ) ( xr ) = 2β r 2 β−2 x
2 β −1 −1

!
∇f = 2 β r 2 β −2 (x, y, z) = 2 β r 2 β −2 r
4. Show that ∇ × ∇f (x, y, z) = 0 when f is two times differentiable.
Answer:
If f can be differentiated twice, we can swap the order in which derivatives are
taken w.r.t. x, y, and z. Hence:

iˆ ĵ k̂
∂ ∂ ∂ ⎛ ∂ ∂f ∂ ∂f ⎞ ⎛ ∂ ∂f ∂ ∂f ⎞ ⎛ ∂ ∂f ∂ ∂f ⎞ !
∇ × ∇f (x, y, z) = =⎜ − ⎟ iˆ − ⎜ − ⎟ ĵ + ⎜ − ⎟ k̂ = 0
∂x ∂y ∂z ⎝ ∂y ∂z ∂z ∂y ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ∂z ∂z ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x ⎠
∂f ∂f ∂f
∂x ∂y ∂z

5. Consider the closed path composed of half an ellipse and a straight line, as
shown in the figure.

The equations for the half-ellipse and the straight line are:
half ellipse: (2x −1)2 + y 2 = 9
straight line: y = 0

a) Determine parametrizations for the segments of the path R->S ->Q, Q->R.

Answer:
First, half the ellipse centered at x=1/2, y=0:
1 3
x = + cost,
2 2
y = 3sin t,
t ∈ [0, π ]
Then, the straight line:
x = t,
y = 0,
t ∈ [−1, 2]


b) Compute the integrals:
! ! !
K j = ∫ F ⋅ dx , for j = a, b, c (see figure), with F = (x, 2x) .
( j)

Answer:
Integrating over half the ellipse gives:
π
1 3 3 3
∫ ( 2 + 2 cost,1+ 3cost)⋅ (− 2 sin t, 3cost)dt = 2 (−1+ 3π )
0

Integrating over the straight line gives:

2
3
∫ (1+ 3t, 2 + 6t)⋅ (3, 0)dt = 2
−1
Summed up: 9π/2
!
c) Compute the integrals over the closed path R->S->Q->R for F = (x, y) and
!
F = (y, −x) (Hint: use Stokes' theorem).

Answer: ! ! !
For F = (x, y) , since ∇ × F = 0 the inegral over the closed path equals zero.
iˆ ĵ k̂
! ! ∂ ∂ ∂
For F = (−y, x) , ∇ × F = = 0iˆ + 0 ĵ + (−1−1)k̂ = −2 k̂ so the integral
∂x ∂y ∂z
y −x 0
equals -2 times the area of the half ellipse, which is -9π/2.
!
6. Calculate the work done by the force F = (y +1, x) along the half ellipse (x-
1)2+¼y2=1 from point [2,0] via [1,2] to [0,0].

Answer:
!
"Brute force" integration over x(t) = (1+ cost, 2sin t), t ∈ [0, π ] :
π π
2
∫ (2sin t +1, cost +1)⋅ (−sin t, 2 cost)dt = ∫ (−2sin t − sin t + 2 cos2 t + 2 cost)dt =
π
0 0

π
∫ (2 cos(2t) − sin t + 2 cost)dt = cost 0
= −2
0
Simpler is to use Stokes. The curl of the field is equal to zero, so any integral of
the field along a closed path is zero. The integral to be determined must
therefore be equal to minus the integral over a straight line from [0,0] to [2,0].
Therefore:
!
x(t) = (2t, 0), t ∈ [0,1]
1

− ∫ (1, 2t)⋅ (2, 0)dt = −2
0
7. Consider the closed surface D formed by the cone
16x 2 +16y 2 = 9z 2 ,

z ∈ [0, 4]
and closed by the plane z=4.
Calculate the integral over the closed surface:
! !
D
"∫ u ⋅ ds,

!
u = (x, y, 0)
Do this by direct computation as well as by using Gauss' theorem.

Answer:
Parametrization cone:
!
x(t) = (3t cos s, 3t sin s, 4t),

t ∈ [0,1], s ∈ [0, 2π ]
with this the area element is:

iˆ ĵ k̂
iˆ ĵ k̂
! ∂x ∂y ∂z
ds = dsdt = −3t sin s 3t cos s 0 dsdt = (−12t cos s, −12t sin s, 9t)dsdt
∂s ∂s ∂s
3cos s 3sin s 4
∂x ∂y ∂z
∂t ∂t ∂t

Which points inward, so we add a minus sign to get the correct orientation of the
surface normal. The integral over the cone is:
1 2π 1 2π

∫ ∫ (3t cos s, 3t sin s, 0)(12t cos s,12t sin s, −9t)ds dt = ∫ ∫ 36t 2

ds dt = 24π
0 0 0 0

Parametrization top circle:

!
x(t) = (3t cos s, 3t sin s, 4),

t ∈ [0,1], s ∈ [0, 2π ]
with this the area element is:

iˆ ĵ k̂
iˆ ĵ k̂
! ∂x ∂y ∂z
ds = dsdt = −3t sin s 3t cos s 0 dsdt = (0, 0, −9t)dsdt
∂s ∂s ∂s
3cos s 3sin s 0
∂x ∂y ∂z
∂t ∂t ∂t
Which points inward, so we again add a minus sign to get the correct orientation
of the surface normal. The integral over the circle is:
1 2π

∫ ∫ (3t cos s, 3t sin s, 0)(0, 0, 9t)ds dt = 0

0 0

The integral over the closed surface is the sum of these two, hence 24π.
With Gauss: the divergence equals 2, so the answer is equal to twice the volume
of the cone. Volume of a cone: ⅓πr2h, hence the answer is 2*⅓π*32*4=24π.
8. Given the surface x 2 + y 2 = 4 − z, z ∈ [0, 4] closed by the plane z=0, as shown in
the figure.

a) Calculate the volume of the object.

Answer:
At height z, the area of the circle slice in the xy plane equals πr2=π(4-z), which
needs to be integrated from z=0 to z=4 to get the volume, yielding :
4 4
⎡ 1 2⎤
V = ∫ π (4 − z)dz = π ⎢4z − z ⎥ = π (16 − 8) = 8π
0
⎣ 2 ⎦0

!
b) Determine the integral of the field a = (y, −x, z +1) over surface S1 and over
surface S2.

Answer:
Parametrization parabolic surface:
!
x(t) = (r cost, r sin t, 4 − r 2 ),

r ∈ [0, 2], t ∈ [0, 2π ]
with this the area element is:

iˆ ĵ k̂
iˆ
ĵ k̂
! ∂x ∂y ∂z
ds = dsdt = cost sin t −2r dsdt = (2r 2 cost, 2r 2 sin t, r)drdt
∂r ∂r ∂r
−r sin t r cost 0
∂x ∂y ∂z
∂t ∂t ∂t
Integrating over this surface gives:
2 2π
2
∫ ∫ (r sin t, −r cost, 5 − r )⋅ (2r 2 cost, 2r 2 sin t, r)dt dr =

0 0
2 2π 2
3 ⎡5 2 1 4⎤
∫ ∫ (5r − r )dt dr = 2π ⎢⎣ 2 r − 4 r ⎥⎦ = 12π
0 0 0

For the bottom circle, the surface normal is (0,0,-1), hence:

! !
a ⋅ n = (y, −x, z +1)⋅ (0, 0, −1) = −z −1
The integral over the circle is:
2 2π

∫ ∫ (0 −1)r dφ dr = −4π
0 0

c) Verify Gauss' theorem using this vector field and this object.

Answer:
The divergence of the field is 1, so the answer is equal to the volume of the
object. At height z, the area of the circle slice is π(4-z), which we need to
integrate from z=0 to z=4, so we get indeed 8π.