06/03/2005 Curso de Eletrodinâmica Clássica I - 2005.

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Electrodynamics A (PHY 5346) Fall 2004 – Homework Set 11

Exercise (1)
Consider a dielectric sphere of radius R with dielectric constant 1 in a
dielectric medium with dielectric constant 2 . At large distances from the
~ = E0 ẑ is found.
sphere a homogenous, constant electric field E
(a) Calculate the Potential Φ(~x) and the electric field E(~x) for all ~x.
(b) Present figures which indicate the electric field lines (i) for 1 > 2 ,
and (ii) for for 2 > 1 .
(c) Calculate the surface charge density.

Exercise (2)
Consider a long, straight coaxial cable with circular cross section. A con-
stant current flows from a source to a target through the inner conductor
(0 ≤ ρ ≤ ρ1 ) and back through the outer conductor (ρ2 ≤ ρ ≤ ρ3 ). Assume
vacuum in the in–between regions and use Ampére’s law to calculate the
magnetic field everywhere.

Exercise (3)
Consider two small magnets (dipoles) m
~ 1 and m
~ 2 . Their distance is given
by the vector ~r = ~r2 − ~r1 .
(a) Find their interaction energy.
(b) Calculate the force acting on either of them.
(c) Assume the dipoles are suspended (at ~r1 and ~r2 ) such that they are
free to rotate. Which direction will they choose? Find the force for
this configuration.
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Electrodynamics A (PHY 5346) Fall 2004 – Solutions Set 11

Problem 1: Dielectric sphere.
(a) We expand the potential into spherical harmonics. Due to the axial
symmetry we have only m = 0 contributions, which are Legendre polyno-
mials.
X∞
Inside : Φin = Al rl Pbl (cos θ) ,
l=0
∞ h
X i
Outside : Φout = Bl rl + Cl r−(l+1) Pbl (cos θ) .
l=0

For r → ∞: Φ → −E0 ẑ = −E0 r cos θ. This implies that the only non-
vanishing coefficient Bl is
B1 = −E0 .
BCs at r = R:
 
1 ∂Φin  1 ∂Φout 
Tangential : = ,
R ∂θ r=R R ∂θ r=R
 
∂Φin  ∂Φout 
Normal : 1 = 2 .
∂r r=R
 ∂r r=R
Matching for the tangential BC ∂ Pbl /∂θ term by term (they are independent
functions of θ), we find:
C1 C1
A1 R = B1 R + ⇒ A1 = −E0 + 3
R2 R
Cl
and for l ≥ 2 : Al = (2l+1) .
R
Similarly we match for the normal BC Pl term by term and find:
C1
1 A1 = −2 E0 − 2 2
R3
Cl
and for l ≥ 2 : 2 l Al = −(l + 1) 2 .
R(2l+1)
Putting the l ≥ 2 equations together we get
Cl (l + 1) 2 Cl
=− ⇒ Cl = 0, l ≥ 2 ⇒ Al = 0, l ≥ 2 .
R(2l+1) l 1 R(2l+1)
Let us define
1
 = .
2
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Dielectric sphere with epsilon = 4.0.

With this notation we have

C1
 A1 = −E0 − 2 .
R3
Combining this with our other equation for A1 gives
   
3 −1
A1 = − E0 , C1 = R 3 E0 .
+2 +2
Therefore,
   
3 3
Φin =− E0 r cos(θ) = − E0 z ,
+2 +2
R3
 
−1
Φout = −E0 z + E0 2 cos(θ) .
+2 r
Note that the last term is the potential of a dipole. The electric fields are
then
 
~ 3 ~0 ,
Ein = −∇ Φrmin = E
+2
2 ~ ~
 
~
Eout = −∇ Φout = E ~ 0 −  − 1 R3 r E0 − 3~r (~r · E0 ) .
+2 r 5
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Dielectric sphere with epsilon = 0.1.

(b) Download the Fortran program set11.f. It creates a gnuplot driver file,
which you may name set11.plt. Type then gnuplot set11.plt to see the figure.
You may change the parameter EPS =  in the Fortran program. Examples
are given in the two figures.
(c) The surface charge density is

1 r r 1 ~ ~ in

σpol = (Eout − Ein ) = r̂ Eout − E
4π  4π    
1 3 −1
= E0 cos(θ) 1− − (1 − 3)
4π +2 +2
 
3 −1
= E0 cos(θ) .
4π  + 2

Problem 2: Coaxial cable.

Ampére’s law reads

~ = 4π J~
∇×B
c
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where in our case J~ = J ẑ and



 J1 = I/(π ρ21 ) for ρ ≤ ρ1 ,


0 for ρ < ρ < ρ ,
1 2
J = J(ρ) =


 J2 = I/(π ρ3 − π ρ22 ) for ρ2 ≤ ρ ≤ ρ3 ,
2

0 for ρ > ρ3 .


Now B~ = Bφ φ̂ with Bφ = B = |B|

~ and
Z 2π I Z Z
2π ρ Bφ = ρ ~ =
dφ Bφ = d~s · B ~ = 4π
da â · (∇ × B) da â · J~
0 S c S
ρ ≤ ρ1 :
4π 2 2I ρ
2π ρ Bφ = J1 π ρ2 ⇒ B = J π ρ = .
c c c ρ21
ρ1 < ρ < ρ2 :
4π 2I
2π ρ Bφ = J π ρ21 ⇒ B = .
c cρ
ρ2 ≤ ρ ≤ ρ3 :
2I 2J 2 I (ρ23 − ρ2 )
B= − π (ρ2 − ρ22 ) = .
cρ cρ c ρ (ρ23 − ρ22 )
Finally, ρ > ρ3 :

B=0.

Problem 3: Two small magnets.

The magentic dipole approximation holds

~ ~r ) = 3r̂ ( r̂ · m
B(
~ )−m
~
, r̂ =
~r
, r = | ~r | .
| ~r |3 r
(a) Now we consider m~ 1 in the field of m~ 2 , ~r = ~r1 − r~2 :
 
~ 1 · r̂) ( r̂ · m
3 (m ~2)−m~1·m~2
U = −m ~ 1 · B~2 = − ,
| ~r |3
(b) The force acting on either of the magnets follows from
~r
F~ = −∇U , ∇|~r| = r̂ = .
r
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We keep the postion of m

~ 2 and calculate the force acting on m
~ 1 at the
position ~r:
3 (m ~ 1 · ~r) ( ~r · m
~2) ~1·m
m ~2
F~ = +∇ −∇
| ~r |5 | ~r |3
~ 1 ( ~r · m
3m ~ 2 ) 3m ~ 2 ( ~r · m
~1) ~ 1 · ~r) ( ~r · m
(m ~2) ~1·m
m ~2
= + − 15 ~r + 3 ~r .
| ~r |5 | ~r |5 | ~r |7 | ~r |5
(c) The rest position is at U = Umin . Let us choose coordinates, so that
r̂ = x̂. Then
−2 mx1 mx2 + my1 my2 + mz1 mz2
U = .
| ~r |3
We find negative contributions for sign(mx1 ) = sign(mx2 ), sign(my1 ) =
−sign(my2 ) and sign(mz1 ) = −sign(mz2 ), which are therefore assumed. For
i = 1, 2 let mi = |m ~ i | and m⊥ ~⊥
i = |m i | where ⊥ means perpendicular to x̂
(i.e. a vector in the y–z plane). Now (all terms give negative contributions)
p p
⊥ ⊥
−2 (m1 )2 − (m⊥ 1)
2 (m2 )2 − (m⊥ 2
2 ) − m1 m2
U = 3
.
| ~r |
We can define coefficients αi > 0 so that mi = αi m and m⊥ ⊥
i = αi m holds
⊥
with m > 0 and m > 0. With these definition
2 [(m)2 − (m⊥ )2 ] + (m⊥ )2 2 m2 − (m⊥ )2
U = −α1 α2 3
= −α1 α2
| ~r | | ~r |3
and it is obvious that the Umin is obtained for m⊥ = 0. We have stable
equilibrium for m⊥ ⊥ x x
1 = m2 = 0 and sign(m1 ) = sign(m2 ). Hence, m ~ 1 is
parallel to m
~ 2 along the r̂ axis.
In this configuration there is an attractive force of magnitude
m1 m2
Fmin = 6
r4
between the dipoles.