Are We Spending So Much Time On These Abstract Things Called Electric Fields?
Are We Spending So Much Time On These Abstract Things Called Electric Fields?
Are We Spending So Much Time On These Abstract Things Called Electric Fields?
The electric field at any point in space r is the sum of the electric
fields at r that would be produced by all the electric charges in the
universe.
i N
r ri
1
1
E (r , ri ) Qi
2
4 0 | r ri | | r ri |
i 1
i N
r ri
1
1
E (r ) dqi
2
4 0 | r ri | | r ri |
i 1
If there are many charges (N) and the charges are very small,
(dq0), then this sum turns into an integral
1
1
r r
E (r ) dqr
2
4 0 | r r | | r r |
Q
L
The steps
Identify the piece of charge: dq=dx. In this problem, =Q/L, is a
constant.
Pick a piece of the wire. A coordinate system is handy here. Start
with x=0 at the left end, x=L at the right, and choose an arbitrary x in
the middle.
This piece will contribute a field of magnitude
kQdx
1
dE
2
2
L ( L x) L
We want to add up all the pieces, but we cant use the magnitude
for this, we need the components. That is, we need to project dE
onto the x-axis and the y-axis to find dEx and dEy.
dE
dEx/dE=(L-x)/[(L-x)2+L2]1/2
dEy/dE=L/[(L-x)2+L2]1/2
Or:
dEx=dE(L-x)/[(L-x)2+L2]1/2
dEy=dEL/[(L-x)2+L2]1/2
dq=Qdx/L
x
L-x
kQ
dxL x
E x dE x
2
2 3/ 2
L
x 0
x 0 L x L
xL
xL
xL
xL
kQ
dxL
E y dE y
2
2
L
L
x 0
x 0
3/ 2
The answer
The integrals are here
xL
dxL x
L x
x 0
xL
x 0
2 3/ 2
v 0
vdv
2
vL
dxL
L x
vL
2 3/ 2
v 0
Ldv
2
2 3/ 2
2 3/ 2
kQ
1
E x 2 1
L
2
kQ
Ey
2 L2
vL
v 0
v L
2
v
L v L
2
1
1
L
2L
vL
v 0
2L
P
y
x
R h
R h
Ez
2khR
k |Q|h
3
2 2
3
2 2
dE z
khdq
3
2 2
2hkrdr
3
2 2
1
1
E z 2hk
h2 R2
h
1
1
E z 2hk
2
2
h
h
2k
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