ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD THEORY

U20ECT306
Divergence Theorem
Problems - Divergence Theorem
Sub – 2 in 1
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHARGE DISTRIBUTIONS
➢ Charges at rest produce electrostatic field.
➢ The charges are basically of two types:
• positive and
• Negative
Charge density and charge distribution indicate the same property.
Basically, there are four types of charge distributions.
✓ Point charges
✓ Line charge distribution
✓ Surface charge distribution
✓ Volume charge distribution
(i) Point charges, Q (Coulomb) - These are the charges which do not occupy any
space, that is, the volume of the point charge is zero.
For example, an electron is considered to be a point charge and has a charge of 1.6 ×
10-19 Coulombs (C).
(ii) Line charge distribution, rL (c/m) - This is a charge distribution in which the
charge is distributed along a line like a filament, that is, this has only length but no
width or breadth. rL is defined as the charge per unit length,that is,
 (iii) Surface charge distribution, rs (c/m2) - When a charge is confined to the surface
of a conductor, it is said to be surface charge distribution. Such a surface has both
length and width but no breadth.
Surface density is defined as the charge per unit area, that is,

where DS is small area

(iv) Volume charge distribution, ru (c/m3) - Volume charge density is defined as the
charge per unit volume, that is,

where Du is differential volume.

Electrostatic field is produced by a charge at rest. It is defined by Coulomb’s law.
Electric field strength or electric field intensity or electric field indicate the same property.
Coulomb’s Law
in
vector form
ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY:
Electric field intensity or electric field strength due to a charge is defined as the Coulomb’s
force per unit charge. It is a vector and has the unit of Newton per Coulomb or volt per metre.

where F is Coulomb’s force in Newton and

Q is charge in Coulomb
Electric flux is the measure of the electric field through a given surface,
Electric flux,  Q, Coulomb.
ELECTRIC FLUX DENSITY
Definition 1 Electric flux density, D is defined as the amount of flux passes
through unit surface area in the space imagined at right angle to the direction
of electric field.

where y is the electric flux crossing the area, S.

Definition 2 Electric flux density, D is also defined as
D  0E, C/m2
where 0 = permittivity of free space, F/m
E= electric field strength, V/m
 ELECTRIC POTENTIAL

The electric potential is defined as the amount of work energy needed to move a
unit of electric charge from a reference point to the specific point in an electric
field.

The change of electric potential with respect to distance is called potential gradient.
It is denoted by dv/dx. Any surface over which the potential is same is called an
equipotential surface. The potential difference between any two points on an
equipotential surface is zero.
 POISSON’S AND LAPLACE’S EQUATIONS
Poisson’s equation, states that the potential distribution in a region depends upon
the local charge distribution.

⟹
There are some problems in electrostatics that involve charge distributions on the surface of
conductors.
In these cases, the free volume charge density is zero in the region of interest.
Thus, in the region where ρv vanishes, Poison’s equation reduces to
We know that
∵ = 105