A P P E N D I X

Vector Analysis
A.1 GENERAL CURVILINEAR COORDINATES
Let us consider a general orthogonal coordinate system in which a point is located by the intersection of three mutually perpendicular surfaces (of unspecied form or shape), u = constant = constant w = constant where u, , and w are the variables of the coordinate system. If each variable is increased by a differential amount and three more mutually perpendicular surfaces are drawn corresponding to these new values, a differential volume is formed which approximates a rectangular parallelepiped. Because u, , and w need not be measures of length, such as, the angle variables of the cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems, each must be multiplied by a general function of u, , and w in order to obtain the differential sides of the parallelepiped. Thus we dene the scale factors h 1 , h 2 , and h 3 each as a function of the three variables u, , and w and write the lengths of the sides of the differential volume as d L 1 = h 1 du d L 2 = h 2 d d L 3 = h 3 dw In the three coordinate systems discussed in Chapter 1, it is apparent that the variables and scale factors are Rectangular : u=x =y w=z h1 = 1 h2 = 1 h3 = 1 Cylindrical : u= = w=z (A.1) h2 = h3 = 1 h1 = 1 Spherical : u=r = w = h2 = r h 3 = r sin h1 = 1
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The choice of u, , and w has been made so that au a = aw in all cases. More involved expressions for h 1 , h 2 , and h 3 are to be expected in other less familiar coordinate systems.1

A.2 DIVERGENCE, GRADIENT, AND CURL IN GENERAL CURVILINEAR COORDINATES

If the method used to develop divergence in Sections 3.4 and 3.5 is applied to the general curvilinear coordinate system, the ux of the vector D passing through the surface of the parallelepiped whose unit normal is au is Du0 d L 2 d L 3 + or Du0 h 2 h 3 d dw + and for the opposite face it is Du0 h 2 h 3 d dw + giving a total for these two faces of (Du h 2 h 3 d dw)du u Because u, , and w are independent variables, this last expression may be written as (h 2 h 3 Du )du d dw u and the other two corresponding expressions obtained by a simple permutation of the subscripts and of u, , and w. Thus the total ux leaving the differential volume is (h 2 h 3 Du ) + (h 3 h 1 D ) + (h 1 h 2 Dw ) du d dw u v w and the divergence of D is found by dividing by the differential volume D = 1 h1h2h3 (h 2 h 3 Du ) + (h 3 h 1 D ) + (h 1 h 2 Dw ) u w (A.2) 1 (Du h 2 h 3 d dw)du 2 u 1 (Du h 2 h 3 d dw)du 2 u 1 (Du d L 2 d L 3 )du 2 u

The components of the gradient of a scalar V may be obtained (following the methods of Section 4.6) by expressing the total differential of V, dV = V V V du + d + dw u w

The variables and scale factors are given for nine orthogonal coordinate systems on pp. 5059 in J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1941. Each system is also described briey.

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Vector Analysis

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in terms of the component differential lengths, h 1 du, h 2 d, and h 3 dw, dV = Then, because dL = h 1 duau + h 2 da + h 3 dwaw we see that V = 1 V 1 V 1 V au + a + aw h 1 u h 2 h 3 w (A.3) and d V = V dL 1 V 1 V 1 V h 1 du + h 2 d + h 3 dw h 1 u h 2 h 3 w

The components of the curl of a vector H are obtained by considering a differential path rst in a u = constant surface and nding the circulation of H about that path, as discussed for rectangular coordinates in Section 7.3. The contribution along the segment in the a direction is 1 (H h 2 d)dw 2 w and that from the oppositely directed segment is H0 h 2 d Hv0 h 2 d The sum of these two parts is or (h 2 H )d dw w and the sum of the contributions from the other two sides of the path is (h 3 Hw )d dw Adding these two terms and dividing the sum by the enclosed area, h 2 h 3 d dw, we see that the au component of curl H is ( H)u = 1 h2h3 (h 3 Hw ) (h 2 H ) w (H h 2 d)dw w 1 (H h 2 d)dw 2 w

and the other two components may be obtained by cyclic permutation. The result is expressible as a determinant, au a aw h2h3 h3h1 h1h2 H= u h 1 Hu h 2 H w h 3 Hw (A.4)

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The Laplacian of a scalar is found by using (A.2) and (A.3): 2 V = V = 1 h1h2h3 + w u h 2 h 3 h 1 u + h3h1 V h 2 (A.5)

h1h2 V h 3 w

Equations (A.2) to (A.5) may be used to nd the divergence, gradient, curl, and Laplacian in any orthogonal coordinate system for which h 1 , h 2 , and h 3 are known. Expressions for D, V , H, and 2 V are given in rectangular, circular cylindrical, and spherical coordinate systems inside the back cover.

A.3 VECTOR IDENTITIES

The vector identities that follow may be proved by expansion in rectangular (or general curvilinear) coordinates. The rst two identities involve the scalar and vector triple products, the next three are concerned with operations on sums, the following three apply to operations when the argument is multiplied by a scalar function, the next three apply to operations on scalar or vector products, and the last four concern the second-order operations. (A B) C (B C) A (C A) B A (B C) (A C)B (A B)C (A + B) A + B (V + W ) V + W (A + B) A + B (V A) A V + V A (V W ) V W + W V (V A) V A + V A (A B) B A A B (A B) (A )B + (B )A + A ( B) + B ( A) (A B) A B B A + (B )A (A )B V V
2

(A.6) (A.7) (A.8) (A.9) (A.10) (A.11) (A.12) (A.13) (A.14) (A.15) (A.16) (A.17) (A.18) (A.19)

A 0 V 0 A ( A) A
2

(A.20)