EE383 – Electromagnetics and its

Applications
Lecture 2
The Cross Product and Vector Analysis in Cylindrical &
Spherical Coordinate Systems

Dr. Adeem Aslam

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology Lahore

September 07, 2022

Lecture 1 1
Outline
• The Cross Product Between Vectors
• The Circular Cylindrical Coordinate System
• Differential Surface Area and Volume Elements
• Unit Vectors
• Vector Representations and Transformations
• The Spherical Coordinate System
• Differential Surface Area and Volume Elements
• Unit Vectors
• Vector Representations and Transformations
• Transformation Between Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinate Systems
Lecture 2 2
The Cross Product
• Cross product between two vectors, and , is defined
as

where is the angle between them, as shown in Figure 1,

and is the unit vector normal to the plane containing
the vectors and .
• Hence, cross product is a vector quantity whose direction
is obtained using the right-hand rule: If the curl of the
fingers indicates rotation of into , then thumb gives
the direction of .
• The cross product is not commutative, i.e.

Figure 1: Graphical depiction of the cross product between two vectors.

• In terms of vector components, cross product is given by

Cross product of two
parallel vectors is 0,
whereas it is 1 for
mutually perpendicular
unit vectors.
•
Lecture 2 3
Circular Cylindrical Coordinate System

Motivated by the
circular cylindrical
geometry of certain
problems.

Figure 2: Cylindrical coordinate system in which surfaces of constant

and have been shown.
Figure 3: Constant plane, shown as making an angle of with the
• Circular cylindrical (or just cylindrical) coordinate system is shown in plane. Larger arclength at is due to the fact that .
Figure 2, in which a point is specified by:
• radial distance in the constant plane, i.e., perpendicular to the -axis, Transformation between Cartesian and Cylindrical Coordinates
called ,
• angle measured from the positive -axis in the constant plane, Using the trigonometric relations of a right-angled triangle
• -coordinate of the system.
• A point is given by the intersection of mutually perpendicular
constant surface (circular cylinder), constant plane & constant plane.
Lecture 2 4
Circular Cylindrical Coordinate System
Differential Surface Area and Differential Volume Elements
• As shown in Figure 4, a point can be displaced by
differential amounts , in cylindrical coordinates, to
get a new point .
• The small incremental displacements in two coordinates,
keeping the third fixed, results in six faces of a truncated
wedge. The differential surface area of the six sides of the
wedge is given by:
• at fixed ,
• at fixed ,
• at fixed .
• It must be noted that is the angle subtended by the
truncated wedge at the -axis in the plane and hence, is
not a measure of distance.
• The differential volume of the wedge is given by .
• It must be noted that differential surface area and differential
volume enable the computation of two-dimensional surface
and three-dimensional volume integrals respectively. As a
result, the expressions for the differential surface area and
Figure 4: Coordinates of a point can be increased by differential amounts
the differential volume elements are obtained by computing of to obtain a new point . The six surfaces,
the Jacobian of the transformation in (4). obtained by incrementing two coordinates while fixing the third, form a truncated
wedge, with surface differential area of and differential volume
of
Lecture 2 5
Circular Cylindrical Coordinate System
Jacobian of the Transformation in (4)
• Let us consider the differential surface area of in a constant -plane. Then Jacobian of some general transformation:

is given by

and the differential surface area in terms of the variables , is given by

• This ensures that the double integral of some function computed in either coordinates or coordinates gives the
same result, i.e., (notice the region in coordinates is mapped under the transformation to in coordinates)

• Substituting the original transformation of in (5) and then (6), gives

and the new differential surface area is: as shown earlier.

Lecture 2 6
Circular Cylindrical Coordinate System
Jacobian of the Transformation in (4)
• Similarly, the differential volume element in circular cylindrical coordinates is obtained by the following Jacobian

which gives the differential volume element in circular cylindrical coordinates as

so that (notice the transformation of the three-dimensional region under the mapping)

Lecture 2 7
Vector Representation in Circular Cylindrical Coordinates
• A vector in cylindrical coordinates is represented as

where are the components of the vector along

the respective coordinates and
• is the unit vector along , i.e., pointing outwards in
the constant plane,
• is the unit vector along , which is tangent to the
circle traced out by coordinate in the constant
plane and normal to the constant plane,
Figure 5: Unit vectors in the cylindrical coordinate system. is radially
• is the unit vector along -axis. outward in the plane, is tangent to the circular curve, traced
• It must be noted that as changes, & change, hence, by the coordinate in the plane and points along the -axis.
Also shown, for reference, are the unit vectors along and axes at the
unlike the unit vectors in cartesian coordinate system, the point .

unit vectors and cannot be treated as constants. Transformation from Cartesian to Cylindrical Coordinates
• Using the orientations of and , shown in Figure 5 at
the point for ease of visualization, we note the
following relations:

Lecture 2 8
Spherical Coordinate System

Motivated by the
spherical geometry
of certain problems.

Figure 6: Spherical coordinate system in which surfaces of constant Figure 7: Two constant surfaces, representing cones, are shown.
and have been shown.
• Spherical coordinate system is shown in Figure 6, in which a point is
specified by: Transformation between Cartesian and Spherical Coordinates
• radial distance from the origin, denoted by ,
• angle measured from the positive -axis in the constant plane, Using the trigonometric relations of a right-angled triangle
• angle measured from the positive -axis in the constant plane.
• A point is given by the intersection of mutually perpendicular
constant surface (sphere), constant plane & constant surface (cone).
Lecture 2 9
Spherical Coordinate System
Differential Surface Area and Differential Volume Elements

• As shown in Figure 8, a point can be displaced by small

differential amounts , in spherical coordinates, to get a
new point .
• The small incremental displacements in two coordinates, keeping
the third fixed, results in six faces of a differential volume
element. The differential surface area of the six sides is given by:
• at fixed ,
• at fixed ,
• at fixed .

• It must be noted that , like , is the angle between the two

conical surfaces of constant and hence, is not a measure of
distance.

• Differential volume of the element is given by , Figure 8: Coordinates of a point can be increased by differential
which can again be verified from the Jacobian of the amounts of to get the point . The six
transformation in (13). surfaces, obtained by incrementing two coordinates while fixing the third,
form a differential volume element with sides having surface differential area
____________________________________________________________________________________________ of & volume of
Students should verify the differential volume of the element themselves.

Lecture 2 10
Spherical Coordinate System
• A vector in spherical coordinates is represented as

where are the components of the vector along the respective

coordinates and
• is the unit vector along , i.e., pointing radially outwards from the
origin, normal to constant sphere, and lies in the constant
cone and constant plane,
• is the unit vector along , which is tangent to the circle traced out
by the coordinate in the constant plane and normal to the
constant plane,
• is the unit vector along , which is tangent to the circle traced out
by the coordinate in the constant plane and normal to the
constant cone.
• It must be noted that as change, change, hence, unlike
the unit vectors in cartesian coordinate system, the unit vectors in
spherical coordinate system cannot be treated as constants. Figure 9: Unit vectors in the spherical coordinate system. is directed radially
• Using the orientations of the cartesian unit vectors, shown in Figure 9 at outward from the origin,
the plane and
is tangent to the circle traced by the coordinate in
is tangent to the circle traced by the coordinate in the
the point for ease of visualization, relative to the spherical unit constant plane. Also shown are the cartesian unit vectors at the point .
vectors, we note the following relations: Transformation from Cartesian to Spherical Coordinates

Lecture 2 11
Transformation Between Spherical & Cylindrical Systems
Transformation from Cylindrical to Spherical Coordinates
For a vector specified in circular cylindrical coordinates, i.e.,

we can find the cartesian representation as

which can be solved using the relations in (12). Then, (15), (16) can be used to obtain the representation in spherical coordinates.

Transformation from Spherical to Cylindrical Coordinates

For a vector specified in spherical coordinates, i.e.,

we can find the cartesian representation as

which can be solved using the relations in (16). Then, (11), (12) can be used to obtain the representation in cylindrical coordinates.

Lecture 2 12