ORTHOGONAL

COORDINATES
C

C3L2

Internal
 Introduction
• In the previous lecture we learnt two new coordinate systems – Cartesian coordinate system, cylindrical
coordinate system and spherical coordinate system.

Cartesian coordinate system Cylindrical coordinate system Spherical coordinate system

Internal
 Introduction
• In Cartesian coordinates we deal with three mutually perpendicular families of coordinates x, y and z.
• Imagine that we superimpose on the Cartesian coordinates a three other families of coordinate system
• The three new families of surfaces need not be mutually perpendicular.
qi ( x, y, z ), i  1,2,3.
• In this section, we develop the general formalism of orthogonal coordinates derive from the geometry of
orthogonal coordinates the coordinate differentials, and use them for line, area and volume elements in
multiple integrals.

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• To describe the general curvilinear coordinates q1, q2 and q3, we identify the point by
(q1 , q2 , q3) as well as by (x, y, z):
x  x(q1 , q2 , q3 )
y  y (q1 , q2 , q3 )
z  z (q1 , q2 , q3 )
Example: If the curvilinear coordinates are the cylindrical coordinate system
q1  r , q2   , q,3  zthen
x  r cos 
y  r sin 
zz

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• And specifying x, y, z in terms of q’s, the inverse relations are

q1  q1 ( x, y, z )
q 2  q 2 ( x, y , z )
q3  q3 ( x, y, z )

• Example: In the cylindrical coordinate system:

r  x2  y2
 y
  tan 1  
x
zz
Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• With each families of , aq̂ibasis unit vector is associated to each qi of increasing
in the direction .
qi
q̂1 q̂2

q̂3

• The coordinate vector may be written as

 
r  q1qˆ1  q2 qˆ 2  q3 qˆ3 V  V1qˆ1  V2 qˆ 2  V3 qˆ3
Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• Note that the scalar dot product can be written as
  3
A  B  A1 B1  A2 B2  A3 B3   Ai Bi
i 1

and  A1   M 11 M 12 M 13  B1 
    
 A2    M 21 M 22 M 23  B2 
 A  M M 32 M 33  B3 
 3   31
3
A1  M 11 B1  M 12 B2  M 13 B3   M 1i Bi
i 1
3
Ai   M ij B j
j 1
Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• For cross product:

qˆ1 qˆ 2 qˆ3
 
A  B  A1 A2 A3
B1 B2 B3

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• The q̂i are normalized to  1form a right-handed coordinate system with volume
qˆi and
qˆ1  qˆ 2  qˆ3   1
• The differentials x x x 3
x
dx  dq1  dq2  dq3   dqi
q1 q2 q3 i 1 qi

and similarly  r
dr   dqi
i qi

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• In curvilinear coordinate space the most general expression for the square of the distance element can be
written as
ds 2  g11dq12  g12dq1dq2  g13dq1dq3  g 21dq2 dq1  g 22dq22  g 23dq2 dq3  g 31dq3 dq1  g 32dq3 dq2  g 33dq32
3
  g dq dq
i , j 1
ij i j

where the mixed terms dqidqj with i ≠ j signal that these coordinates are not orthogonal.
• This equation is called metric and Riemannian.

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• By substituting the differential the metric gij is given by

x x y y z z 3
x x
g ij     n n
qi q j qi q j qi q j n 1 qi q j

where x1  x, x2  y, x3  z
• The metric gij can be viewed as specifying the nature of the coordinate system.

• In general relativity the metric components are determined by the properties of matter, that is, the gij are
solutions of Einstein’s nonlinear field equations that are driven by the energy momentum tensor of
matter.
• The Einstein’s field equation relates the geometry of the spacetime with matter.

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• The metric can also be written as a scalar product of the tangent vectors
 
3
x x r r
g ij   n n  
n 1 qi q j qi q j
• This tells us that for each displacement along a coordinate axis

r
 g ij qˆ j
qi
• So that the differential distance vector becomes
 3
dr   g ij dqˆ j
i 1

Internal
 General curvilinear coordinates
• Using the curvilinear component form we find that a line integral becomes
  3

 V  dr    V g dq
i , j 1
i ij j

• For example, the work done can be written in the form


 
 2 
r (t2 ) t 3 t2
dr  drj
 F r (t )  dr   F r (t )  dt    Fi r (t ) g ij dt

r ( t1 ) t1
dt i , j 1 t1 dt

Internal
 Orthogonal coordinate system
• Now, we limit ourselves to orthogonal coordinate systems, which means that
g ij  0 when i j
or qˆi  qˆ j   ij where
 11 12 13   1 0 0 
   
 ij    21  22  23    0 1 0 
    0 0 1
 31 32 33   
so that
3
ds  g11 dq  g 22 dq  g 33dq   g ii dqi2
2 2
1
2
2
2
3
i 1

Internal
 Orthogonal coordinate system
3
ds  g11 dq  g 22 dq  g 33dq   g ii dqi2
2 2
1
2
2
2
3
i 1

• For example, in the cylindrical coordinate system, ds 2  dr 2  r 2 d 2  dz 2

so that g11  1, g 22  r 2 , g 33  1
where q1  r , q2   , q3  z

• For the spherical coordinate system, ds 2  d 2   2 d 2   2 sin 2  d 2

so that g11  1, g 22   2 , g 33   2 sin 2 

where q1   , q2   , q3  
Internal