Electromagnetic Fields

Chapter one
Lecture 3
Review of Vectors Cont’d

Instructor : Birhanesh . D (MSc.)

Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

Arba Minch Institute Technology(AMiT)
 Outlines

A. Differential Length, Area, Volume

B. Line, Surface and Volume Integrals
C. Del Operator
D. Gradient of a Scalar field
E. Divergence of a Vector and the Theorem
F. Curl of a Vector field
G. Laplacian of a Scalar field
H. Classification of Vector fields
 A. Differential Length, Area and Volume
• Differential elements in Cartesian co-ordinate system
Differential displacement dl is given by:
dl  dx a x  dy a y  dz a z

dS  dy dz a x
 dx dz a y
 dx dy a z

dV  dx dy dz
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 Cont’d
• Differential elements in cylindrical co-ordinate system

dl  d a   d a  dz a z

dS   d dz a 
 d dz a
  d d  a z

dV  d  d dz
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 Cont’d
• Differential elements in spherical co-ordinate system
dl  dr a r  r d a  r sin  d a

dS  r 2 sin  d d a r
 r sin  dr d a
 r dr d a

dV  r 2 sin  dr d d
5
 Cont’d

Where:

• dl is the differential displacement

• dS is the differential normal area
• dV is the differential Volume
• dl and dS are vectors, whereas dV is a scalar quantity

dS  dS a n

an is an outward normal vector

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 B. Line, Surface and Volume Integrals
Given a vector field A :
• and a Path L, the integral of A around L is given by the equation:
b
 A  dl
L
 
a
A cos dl

• For path of integration of a closed loop:

 A  dl
L
 
L
A cos dl

• For a smooth surface S, the Surface Integral is:

   A  dS   A cos dS
S S

• For a scalar function,  v, the Volume Integral

over a differential volume dV is given by:

  .dV
v
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 C. Del Operator

 The del operator  is defined as follows in all the three

coordinate systems:
  
• Cartesian  ax  a y  a z
x y z
• Cylindrical  1  
 a  a  a z
   z

• Spherical  1  1 
 ar  a  a
r r  r sin  

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 Cont’d
 Properties of Del operator 
• The del operator of a vector filed is a scalar-
• The del operator of a scalar field is a vector-

The operator is useful in defining:

– The gradient of a scalar V, written as  V

– The divergence of a vector A, • V

– The curl of a vector A,  x V

2
– And the Laplacian of a vector V,  V

Each will be discussed as follows!

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 D. Gradient of a Scalar field
 The Gradient of a Scalar field V is a vector that represents both the
magnitude & the direction of the maximum space rate of increase of V

grad V  V

• Cartesian V V V
V  ax  ay  az
x y z

V 1 V V
• Cylindrical V  a  a  az
   z
V 1 V 1 V
• Spherical V  ar  a  a
r r  r sin  
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 Cont’d
 Consider the figure: the field dV between points Pl and P2 where V1,
V2, and V3 are contours on which V is constant. mathematical expression
for the gradient is:

Let

Then

Or

dl is the differential displacement from P1 to P2 and  is the angle between G and

11 dl.
 Cont’d
 dV/dl is a maximum when  = 0, that is, when dl is in the direction of G.
Hence,

 Thus G has its magnitude and direction as those of the maximum rate of change
of V. By definition, G is the gradient of V. Therefore:

 Fundamental properties of the gradient of a scalar field V:

1. The magnitude of V equals the maximum rate of change in V per unit distance.

2. V points in the direction of the maximum rate of change in V.

3. V at any point is perpendicular to the constant V surface that passes through that point

4. The projection (or component) of V in the direction of a unit vector a is V • a

and is called the directional derivative of V along a.
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5. If A = V , V is said to be the scalar potential of A.
 E. Divergence of a Vector field
 The Divergence of a Vector field A at a point P is defined as the
outward flux per unit volume as the volume shrinks about P.

 A.dS
div A    A  lim S
v 0 v

(a) Positive divergence (b) negative divergence (c) zero divergence

To obtain an expression for div A in Cartesian

coordinates from the earlier eq at point
P(xo,yo, zo) the point is enclosed by a
differential volume as shown in the Figure .
The surface integral of the eq. is obtained
from the following eqn. by working through the
3-dimensional Taylor series expansion.

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 Cont’d
Physical meaning:

Consider a flow of fluid:

• Figure a) shows a compressed air capped on one side. A similar cap
has just been removed from the other end and air is rushing out.
 A  0
• If the mass of fluid (or charge) coming out of a domain is the same as
that entering the domain (see figure (b)), then, no divergence, and

 A  0
NB. A is the fluid velocity (or the current) field vector
 Cont’d

• Cartesian: A x A y A z
A   
x y z

1 A A z
• Cylindrical: A 
1 
 

Aρ  

z

• Spherical:

1  2  1 A
A  2
r r
r Ar   1

r sin 
A sin  
r sin 

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 Cont’d
Properties:
• It produces a scalar field(because scalar product is involved).
• The divergence of a scalar V, div V, makes no sense
  A  B    A    B

  V A  V   A  A  V
From the definition of the divergence of A in the earlier equation:


S
A  dS 

v
  A dv

This is called the divergence theorem, otherwise known as

the Gauss-Ostrogradsky theorem.
The divergence theorem states that the total outward flux of a vector
field A through the closed surface S is the same as the volume integral
of the divergence of A. 16
 F. Curl of A Vector and Stokes's Theorem

Recall: the circulation of a vector field A around a closed path L is: A  dl
• The Curl of A (rot A) is an axial (or rotational) vector L
– whose magnitude is the maximum circulation of A per unit area as
the area tends to zero and
– whose direction is the normal direction of the area when the area is
oriented so as to make the circulation maximum.

• Where: area S is
bounded by the curve L
and an is the unit vector
normal to the surface S
and is determined using
the right hand rule.
 Cont’d
• Cartesian
ax ay az
  
A 
x y z
Ax A y Az

 A z A y  A A z   A y A x 
  A    a x   x  a    a z
 y  x y 
 y z   z x  

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 Cont’d
• Cylindrical
a a az
1   
A 
   z
A A A z

 1 A z A   A  A z 
  A    a   
   a

   z   z  

  

1   A 
A  
a z
    

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 Cont’d
• Spherical

ar ra r sin  a
1   
A 
r 2 sin  r  
Ar rA A

A 
1


  A sin   A a  
  a
1  1 A r  rA

r sin     
r
r  sin   r  
 
1  rA  A r 
   a
r  r  
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 Cont’d
Properties of the Curl of a vector field:
• The curl of a vector field is another vector
• The curl of a scalar field V, ∇ X V, makes no sense
• The divergence of the curl of a vector field vanishes, ∇ • (∇ X A) = 0
• The curl of the gradient of a scalar field vanishes, that is, ∇ X ∇ V = 0.

For Vector fields A and B and a scalar field V

∇ X (A + B) = ∇ X A + ∇ X B

∇ X (A X B) = A(∇ • B) - B(∇ • A) + (B • ∇ A - (A • ∇)B

∇ X (VA) = V ∇ X A + ∇ V X A

Please see to other properties of the curl are in Appendix A of the text book
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 Cont’d
Stokes’s Theorem
Stokes's theorem: states that the circulation of a vector
field A around a (closed) path-L is equal lo the surface
integral of the curl of A over the open surface S bounded
by L (see the Figure) provided that A and ∇ X A are
continuous on S.

 A  dl     A dS
L S

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 G. Laplacian of A Scalar

The Laplacian of a scalar field V, written as ∇2V, is the

divergence of the gradient of V.

LaplacianV    V   2V
     V V V 
  ax  a y  a z  .  ax  ay  az 
 x y z   x y z 

that is,

 2
V  2
V  2
V
V 2  2  2
2

x y z

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 Cont’d
Similarly, for the cylindrical and the spherical coordinate systems:

1   V  1  2V  2V
V
2
    2  2
      
2
z

1   2 V  1   V 
V 2 r  2  sin  
2

r r  r  r sin     
1  2V
 2
r sin 2   2

 A scalar field V is said to be harmonic in a given region if its

Laplacian vanishes in that region. i.e.

 2V  0
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 Cont’d
The Laplacian operator of a vector field A is defined as the gradient
of the divergence of A minus the curl of the curl of A. i.e.,

2A  A    A      A
• Cartesian
2 A  2 A xa x  2 A ya y  2 A z a z
Where,
 2 2Ax 2Ax 2Ax
 A x   
 x 2
y 2
z 2

 2 2A y 2A y 2A y

 A y   
  x 2
 y 2
 z 2

 2 2Az 2Az 2Az

 A z   
 x 2
y 2
z 2 25
 H. Classification of Vector fields
Vector fields can be classified as:
(a) ∇ • A = 0, ∇XA=0
(b) ∇ • A ≠ 0, ∇XA=0
(c) ∇ • A = 0, ∇XA≠0
(d) ∇ • A ≠ O, ∇XA≠O

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 Cont’d
All Vector fields can be classified in terms of their vanishing
or nonvanishing divergence or curl:
1. Solenoidal (or divergenceless) if div A = 0

Solenoidal fields have neither source nor sink with in the region

Examples of solenoidal fields are incompressible fluids, magnetic

fields, and conduction current density under steady state conditions.

An irrotational field can always be expressed in terms of a scalar field V :

2. Irrotational (or Potential) if x A = 0

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