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Multipole expansion
SUMMARY
- Potential of an arbitrary localized charge distribution.
V = monopole term+dipole term+quadrapole term+octopole term+
For a charged body, dominant term is monopole term.
When total charge zero, dominant term is dipole term.
Dipole moment,
For a dipole,
+ -
p
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Electric field of a dipole
For a dipole at origin, potential,
Using,
V E V =

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Dielectrics
Ch. 4
Electric Fields in Matter
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Insulators and Dielectrics
All dielectrics are insulators but all insulators are not dielectric.
Dielectric: materials where the polarization is important, such as the
insulating material in a capacitor.
Insulator: when a material is being used to prevent a current flow.
Since charges tend not to move easily in nonmetallic solids it's
possible to have "islands" of charge in glass, ceramics, and plastics.
The latin word for island is insula.
Inserting a layer of nonmetallic solid between/across the plates of a
capacitor increases its capacitance. The greek prefix di or dia means
"across". The material placed across the plates of a capacitor like a
little nonconducting bridge is a dielectric.
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A dielectric medium possess no (or very few) free
electrons to provide currents in an electric field.
Although there is no macroscopic migration of
charge when a dielectric is placed in an electric
field, microscopic displacements (on the order of
the size of atoms or molecules) of charge occur
resulting in the appearance of induced electric
dipoles.
What happens to dielectric in an electric field?
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In the absence of an
applied electric field,
the positively charged
nucleus is surrounded
by a spherical electron
cloud with equal and
opposite charge.
Outside the atom, the
electric field is zero.
electron
cloud nucleus
In the absence of an applied electric field:
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In the presence of an
applied electric field,
the electron cloud is
distorted such that it is
displaced in a direction
(w.r.t. the nucleus)
opposite to that of the
applied electric field.
E
app
In the presence of an applied electric field:
+ -
p
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A dielectric is said to be polarized when induced
electric dipoles are present.
The presence of induced electric dipoles within the
dielectric causes the electric field both inside and
outside the material to be modified.
There are two principal methods by which a dielectric
can be polarized: stretching and rotation.
Stretching an atom or molecule results in an induced
dipole moment added to every atom or molecule.
Rotation occurs only in polar molecules those with a
permanent dipole moment like the water molecule.
(Animation: http://physics.info/dielectrics/)
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Induced dipoles
Nucleus pushed in the direction of the field and electron
cloud in the opposite direction
Equilibrium is soon established between the two opposite forces
Electrostatic force holding
the atom together
External field that is
distorting the atom
The atom now has a tiny dipole moment
The constant of proportionality is called atomic polarizability
Its value depends on the detailed structure of the atom.
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The net effect is that
each atom becomes a
small charge dipole
which affects the
total electric field
both inside and
outside the material.
+
E = p
dipole
moment
(C-m)
polarizability
(F-m
2
)
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Molecular Polarizability
Polarizability is a measure of the ability of
a material to become polarized in the
presence of an applied electric field.
Polarization occurs in both polar and
nonpolar materials. (displace, stretching,
rotation etc.)
1
p

2
p

1 2
p p p = +

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The external field pushing the nucleus to the right exactly balances
the internal field pulling it to the left.
Assume that electron cloud retains spherical shape (only moves).
Field at a distance from a uniformly charged sphere is [Pr. 2.12]
Example 4.1: Polarizability of an atom
At equilibrium
We have,
and we have,
Atomic polarizability,
= volume of the atom
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General p and E relation
Molecules polarize more readily in some directions than others.
When the field is at some angle to the molecular axis
For asymmetric molecules the situation is more complicated
For molecules, this induced dipole moment is easy to create in
certain directions and not in others.
CO
2
molecule

II II

+ = E E p
N m C
N m C
/ .
/ .
10 5 . 4
10 2
2
2
40
40

II

=
=

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Alignment of polar molecules

p

E

E
is generally induced by .
Some molecules have built-in permanent dipole
moment which is much larger, e.g. H
2
O.
m C p . 10 1 . 6
30
=

p
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About the centre of the dipole
Dipole in a uniform Electric Field
There is torque,
Net force is zero.
VIDEO: Dipole
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Non-Uniform field
There will be a net force on the dipole in addition to the torque
dz
z
E
dy
y
E
dx
x
E
z
y
x
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
=
, ) z E y E x E E d E
x y x
A + A + A = V = A

, ) , ) z E y E x E
z
z
y
y
x
x z d y d x d
z y x z y x
+ +
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+ +
Using,
POLARIZATION (P)
In any dielectric material when we apply a field, lots of dipoles
point along the direction of field
The material is said to be polarized.
Polarization, P dipole moment per unit volume
N dipoles per unit volume.
Thus polarization is a property which is true as an average
over volumes much larger than the atomic size. In practice
we will use it as a continuous field just like the electric or
magnetic field and assume it is defined everywhere.
|
|
.
|

\
|
= =

V
p
Np
i
i
}
=
V
d P p
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Polarization