PH-108

Lecture 16

Punit Parmananda
Special techniques of calculating potentials : Separation of variables
Solving Laplace’s equations
(ii) Spherical coordinates
Laplace’s Equation in spherical coordinates is given by

Consider cases where V has azimuthal symmetry (V is indep of  ) (2-D)

Look for solutions that are
products of independent variables
 General solution

General solution
Legendre polynomials

Pl(x) is defined by Rodrigues’ formula

Boundary conditions decide which terms to be retained

 Eg. Spherical shell of radius R kept at a constant potential V0 . Find the
potential outside and inside

a) Potential outside
boundary conditions
1. r  , V  0
2. r  R, V  V0 (constant)
Apply boundary conditions
(1)  Al s must be zero

(2)  only l =0 term can be retained

b) Potential inside

 Bl s must be zero

r  R, V  V0 (constant)

 only l =0 term can be retained

 V = A0 = V0 = constant inside the shell

 Eg. Spherical shell of radius R with potential V0 cos . Find the
potential outside and inside

a) Potential outside
boundary conditions
1. r  , V  0
2. r  R, V  V0 (cos)
Apply boundary conditions
(1)  Al s must be zero

(2)  only l = 1 term can be retained

b) Potential inside

 Bl s must be zero

r  R, V  V0 (cos)
 only l = 1 term can be retained
 Multipole Expansion
P

d

r  d

where
O
Volume

 Multipole Expansion

Coefficients of Legendre Polynomials

2

3
(1) Monopole term

• Potential due to charge at the origin

• exact potential
• Higher multipole terms vanish
(2) dipole term : If Qtot = 0, then the dominant term

p is the dipole moment – vector qty

Dipole moment is
determined by the
size, shape and
density
 dipole moment

+q
Qtot = 0 : dominant term : dipole
d
q

=𝑞𝑑𝑛 Physical Dipole

 Dipole
The name given to two point charges of equal magnitude and opposite sign,
separated by a distance which is small compared to the distance to the
point P, at which we want to know the electric potential
Potential
To approximate the potential
of a dipole, assume R1 and R2
are parallel since the point P
is very distant

  
Q 1 1
V  
4   0  R1 R2 

Q d  cos   
V
2
4   0 r
Quadrupole moment

Quadrupole moment
 Eg: spherical shell with charge density  = 0cos

LAST CLASS

Monopole moment :

Hence monopole
potential is zero

Dipole moment :

x and y components will vanish due to integration of cos (sin) OR

if the charge distribution does not have a  dependence, then dipole moment can have only z
component!
Quadrupole potential

where r is the distance from origin to the area element dS (= R here)

Difficult to evaluate since  is NOT a coordinate variable. Hence we will evaluate Quadrupole
potential along z-axis where  = 

Quadrupole moment

Hence quadrupole potential is zero

The Electric Field of a Dipole
A pure dipole