ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Electrostatics
In this chapter we will discuss on the followings:
1. Coulomb's Law
2. Electric Field & Electric Flux Density
3. Gauss's Law with Application
4. Electrostatic Potential, Equipotential Surfaces
5. Boundary Conditions for Static Electric Fields
6. Capacitance and Capacitors
7. Electrostatic Energy
8. Laplace's and Poisson's Equations
9. Uniqueness of Electrostatic Solutions
10. Method of Images
11. Solution of Boundary Value Problems in Different Coordinate Systems
Introduction
In the previous chapter we have covered the essential mathematical tools needed
to study EM fields. We have already mentioned in the previous chapter that
electric charge is a fundamental property of matter and charge exist in integral
multiple of electronic charge. Electrostatics can be defined as the study of electric
charges at rest. Electric fields have their sources in electric charges.
( Note: Almost all real electric fields vary to some extent with time. However, for
many problems, the field variation is slow and the field may be considered as
static. For some other cases spatial distribution is nearly same as for the static case
even though the actual field may vary with time. Such cases are termed as quasi-
static.)
In this chapter we first study two fundamental laws governing the electrostatic
fields, viz, (1) Coulomb's Law and (2) Gauss's Law. Both these law have
experimental basis. Coulomb's law is applicable in finding electric field due to any
charge distribution, Gauss's law is easier to use when the distribution is
symmetrical.
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's Law states that the force between two point charges Q1and Q2 is
directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them.
Point charge is a hypothetical charge located at a single point in space. It is an
idealised model of a particle having an electric charge.
(We are assuming the charges are in free space. If the charges are any other
dielectric medium, we will use = 0 r instead where r is called the relative
permittivity or the dielectric constant of the medium).
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Electric Field
The electric field intensity or the electric field strength at a point is defined as the
force per unit charge. That is
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
The expression (2.6) can be modified suitably to compute the electric filed due to
a continuous distribution of charges.
In figure 2.2 we consider a continuous volume distribution of charge at t in the
region denoted as the source region.
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
When this expression is integrated over the source region, we get the electric field
at the point P due to this distribution of charges. Thus the expression for the
electric field at P can be written as:
Similar technique can be adopted when the charge distribution is in the form of a
line charge density or a surface charge density.
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
EC3452 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
