Chapter 4:

Electrostatics

Textbook: Electromagnetics for Engineers

F.T. Ulaby

Electrostatics an Important Field of Study

Many electric and electronic devices and systems are designed
based on electrostatics principles:
oscilloscopes, copying machines, ink-jet electrostatic
printers

LCDs (liquid crystal displays), capacitance based

keyboards
solid-state control equipment
medical applications: x-ray machines, diagnostic sensors
(electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms, etc.)

4-1
4-2
4-3
4-4
4-5
4-6
4-7
4-8
4-9
4-10
4-11
4-12

Maxwells Equations
Charge and Current Distributions
Coulombs Law
Gausss Law
Electric Scalar Potential
Electrical Properties of Materials
Conductors
Dielectrics
Electric Boundary Conditions
Capacitance
Electrostatic Potential Energy
Image Method

4-1

Maxwells Equations

The following four fundamental relations are known as

Maxwells equations, and they constitute the base of the first
unified modern electromagnetism theory:

The electric and magnetic field quantities may be functions of time,

and they are related by:

and

(cont) Maxwells Equations in the Static Case

When all charges are permanently fixed in space, or they move at a
steady rate so that
and J are constant in time, then all time
derivatives are zero and Maxwells equations reduces to
Electrostatics:
Magnetostatics:

Notice that, in the Static case, E is a conservative vector field.

B is always a solenoidal vector field.

4-2

Charge and Current Distributions

At atomic scale the charge distribution is discrete.

At macroscopic scale treat the net charge in an elemental volume
as if it were uniformly distribute with a volume density (measured in
C/m3):
The total charge (in Coulombs) in a volume v is:
In the conductors, the charge may be distributed across the
surface with a surface density (in C/m2):

or along a line with a line charge density (in C/m):

Charge distributions (see Example 4-1, Ulaby)

Current Density
The charges are moving with a mean velocity u a distance

The charge amount, in Figure (a) is:

and for case (b) is:

The corresponding current is

where, J is defined as the current density (A/m2).

The total current flowing through an arbitrary surface is:

(cont) Current Density

The actual movement of electrically charged matter (eg., a charged

cloud driven by wind) generates a so called convection current
In conductors the conduction current is made up by the
movement of electrons (in the outermost electronic shell) from atom
to atom pushed by an applied voltage

Note: the conduction current obeys the Ohms law, whereas

convection current does not (it is generated by a different physical
mechanism)

4-3

Coulombs Law

Based on the results of experiments on the electrical force

between charged bodies, the Coulombs law states that:
(a) an isolated charge q induces an electric field intensity E at
every point in space, and at any specified point P, E is given
by
,
and
(b) the force F acting on a test
charge placed at that point,
and in the presence of the electric
field E, is given by

(cont) Coulombs Law

One of the goals is to develop expressions relating the electrical field
quantities, E and D, to any specified charge distribution
with
,
where the electrical permittivity of free space is

and
, is called the relative permittivity, or dielectric
constant of the material.
The materials can be classified as linear materials, when is
independent of the magnitude of E, and isotropic materials when
is independent of the direction of E.

Electric Field due to Multiple Point Charges

The expression
for the field due to a single charge
can be extended for the case of multiple point charges.

Generalizing,

Electric Field due to a Charge Distribution

This is the case of the field caused by a
continuous charge distribution

Applying the principle of superposition,

the total electric field intensity E is
obtained by integration

Similarly, for the surface distribution,

and for the line charge distribution,

Ring of charge with line density

(Example 4-4, Ulaby)

Circular disk of charge with surface charge density

(Example 4-5, Ulaby)

4-4

Gausss Law

The first Maxwells equation is the differential form of Gausss law:

This equation can be converted into the integral form by performing
the following two steps:

The divergence theorem states that

Finally, the Gausss law in integral form is:

(cont) Gausss Law

The electric field D due to point charge q
Applying Gausss law:

The electric field induced by an isolated point charge in a medium

with permittivity :

Note: this result is identical with the equation obtained from Coulombs
law. Gausss law is easier to apply than Coulombs law but its
application is limited to symmetrical charge distributions.

Electric field of an infinite line of charge (see Example 4-6, Ulaby)