Today in Physics 217: begin magnetostatics

Finish Fridays example

Magnetostatics:
generation of magnetic
fields from steady currents
Magnetic units again
The Biot-Savart law and
Coulombs law
Example calculations of B

2 dBz
dB

dBz

dB

dBs

dBs

dBz

dA

R
dA
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Magnetostatics
The magnetic equivalent of electrostatics involves only
constant currents, with no charge buildup anywhere:

=0
t
or equivalently (by the continuity equation) no sources of
current anywhere:

J =
=0
t
All of electrostatics descends from the empirical law of
Coulomb; the corresponding relation in magnetostatics is the
empirical law of Biot and Savart:
1 I r
I dA r
B=
dA =
2
c r
c
r2

4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Units, again
In MKS, the Biot-Savart law is
0 I dA r
B=
4
r2
This is easier than electrostatics; instead of trading factors of
unity and 1 4 0 , you trade factors of 1/c and 0 4
when you want to change unit systems in an expression
created by applying the Biot-Savart law. Here

0 = 4 10 7 Nt amp-2 , exactly.
0 is called the permeability of free space. The reason it can
be taken to be exact is because of the relation it bears to the
free-space permittivity:
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Units, again (continued)

0 0 =

1
c

where c is the speed of light, 2.99792458 10 10 cm sec-1 .

Nature only constrains the product of the free-space
permeability and permittivity, so we can define one, and
determine the other by experimentation.
Or, these days, by division, because the speed of light is also
taken to be exact these days.
This doesnt affect forces, or anything else very
fundamental; it only winds up affecting the definition of the
ampere and the coulomb, and making people dislike MKS
units.
If you find this confusing, one alternative is to use cgs units!
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Biot-Savart vs. Coulomb

Note how similar the Coulomb and Biot-Savart laws are:

E=

dAr
r

1 IdA r
B=
c
r2

essentially the same, except for the cross product. For other
dimensions we also have corresponding expressions:
1 K r
dar
E=
B=
da
2
2
c
r
r
1 J r
d r
E=
B=
d
2
2
c r
r

4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Biot-Savart vs. Coulomb (continued)

Thus,
the setup, and most of the execution, of B calculations from
the Biot-Savart law are the same as for E calculations using
Coulombs law.
That is,
choose an appropriate coordinate system,
dissect the source distribution into infinitesimal elements,
use the symmetry of the source distribution to simplify
the vector addition as much as possible, and then
integrate the resulting expression.
This is why you will find the geometry of the problems in this
weeks homework so familiar. No new tricks are involved.
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Example calculations of B
y

Read carefully examples 5.5

and 5.6 in the book:
B a distance s from a long
straight wire z and
carrying current I:
2I

B=
sc
Or from a wire of length
2L, a distance s from its
center:
2L
I

B=
sc s 2 + L2
4 November 2002

B
s

Physics 217, Fall 2002

B
s

I
z

L
x

Example calculations of B (continued)

B a distance z along the
axis of a circular loop with
radius R and current I:
2 I
B = z
c

(z

R2
2

+R

2 dBz
dB

dBz

dB

dBs

2 32

dBs

dBz

dA

R
dA
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Example calculations of B (continued)

y

Griffiths problem 5.9a: Find

the magnetic field at point P
in the diagram at right.
See also examples 5.5 and 5.6.
Cylindrical coordinates are
appropriate for the arcs, for
which
( s ) = ad z
dA r = ad

I
b
a

) ( s ) = bd z
= bd (
respectively for inner and
outer.
4 November 2002

x
P

Physics 217, Fall 2002

Example calculations of B (continued)

y

For the straight segments,

though,
dA r = dyy ( y ) = 0 ,

= dx ( x ) ( x ) = 0 ,
so

I dA r Iz Iz
B = 2 = d
c
r
ca cb 0
Iz 1 1
=

2c a b
0 Iz 1 1

= 8 a b in MKS .

4 November 2002

a
x
P

Physics 217, Fall 2002

10

Example calculations of B (continued)

Note that this is even simpler than the corresponding
electrostatic problem of the field from pieces of uniform
circles of charge, because B at the center of the circle is
perpendicular to the plane of the circle for each element of
current in the circle. Thus we could have done this problem jst
by scaling the result from Example 5.6:
1
B = ( B from CCW current, radius a )
4
1
+ ( B from CW current, radius b )
4
1 2 Iz 1 1 Iz 1 1
=
=
.
4 c a b 2c a b
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

11

Example calculations of B (continued)

Griffiths problem 5.9b: Find
the magnetic field at point P
in the diagram at right.
For the semicircular part, the
coordinates and setup are
like that for the outer arc in
the previous part of the
problem:

y
R
P

x
I

) ( s ) = Rd z
dA r = Rd (
For the straight segments the setup is as it was in example
5.5:
4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

12

Example calculations of B (continued)

dA r = dxx ( x cos y sin )
= dxz sin =

Rdx

x2 + R2
for the upper segment, and
dA r = dxx ( x cos + y sin )
= dxz sin =

Rdx

dA
x 2 + R2

x
I

x2 + R2
for the lower segment as well.
Thus
2

I dA r
I
Rd z 2 I
Rdxz
B= 2 =

2
c
c
c 2
2
R
r
2
0 x +R

4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

32
13

Example calculations of B (continued)

In the second integral, substitute x = R tan ,
dx = R 1 + tan 2 d , and = 0 2 :

2
(
)
2I
2I
I
I

cos d
B=
z
z
z
z
=

32
cR
cR
cR
cR
2
0 ( tan + 1 )
0
2

1 + tan 2 d

2I
2
I
I

2
z
z sin 0 =
=
1 + z
cR
cR
cR

0 I
2

1
in
MKS
.
z
=

4R

4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

14

Example calculations of B (continued)

Again, this is easier than the corresponding electrostatic
problem, because all the current elements contribute a field
along z. We could have solved this problem simply by noting
that
its half a circle (use half the field for a CW circular
current) and two semiinfinite lines (arranged so as to be
equivalent to one infinite line)
thus the solution is half the solution from Example 5.6,
plus the solution from Example 5.5.

4 November 2002

Physics 217, Fall 2002

15