Electromagnetic Fields

Chapter one
Lecture 3
Review of Vectors
Cont’d
Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Arba Minch Institute Technology(AMiT)
 Outlines

A. Differential Length, Area, Volume

B. Line, Surface and Volume Integrals
C. Del Operator
D. Gradient of a Scalar field
E. Divergence of a Vector and the
Theorem
F. Curl of a Vector field
G. Laplacian of a Scalar field
H. Classification of Vector fields
 A. Differential Length, Area and Volume

• Differential elements in Cartesian co-ordinate system

Differential displacement dl is given by:
dl  dx a x  dy a y  dz a z

dS dy dz a x
dx dz a y
dx dy a z

dV  dx dy dz
3
 Cont’d

• Differential elements in cylindrical co-ordinate system

dl  d a   d a   dz a z

dS  d dz a 
d dz a
  d d a z

dV  d  d dz
4
 Cont’d

• Differential elements in spherical co-ordinate system

dl  dr a r  r d a  r sin  d a 

dS r 2 sin  d d a r
r sin  dr d a
r dr d a 

dV  r 2 sin  dr d d
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 B. Line, Surface and Volume Integrals

Given a vector field A :

• and a Path L, the integral of A around L is given by the equation:
b
A dl
L
 A cos dl
a

• For path of integration of a closed loop:

A dl
L
  A cos dl
L

• For a smooth surface S, the Surface Integral is:

 A dS   A cos dS

S S

• For a scalar function, , vthe Volume Integral

over a differential volume dV is given by:

 .dV
v
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 C. Del Operator

 The del operator  is defined as follows in all the three coordinate systems:

  
• Cartesian   ax  a y  a z
x y z
• Cylindrical  1  
 a  a  a z
   z

• Spherical  1  1 
 ar  a  a
r r  r sin  

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 Cont’d

 Properties of Del operator 

• The del operator of a vector filed is a scalar-
• The del operator of a scalar field is a vector-

The operator is useful in defining:

– The gradient of a scalar V, written as  V

– The divergence of a vector A, • V

– The curl of a vector A,  x V

– And the Laplacian of a vector V, 2 V

Each will be discussed as follows! 8

 D. Gradient of a Scalar field

 The Gradient of a Scalar field V is a vector that represents both the magnitude & the direction of the
maximum space rate of increase of V

grad V  V

• Cartesian V V V
V  ax  ay  az
x y z

V 1 V V
• Cylindrical V  a  a  az
   z
V 1 V 1 V
• Spherical V  ar  a  a
r r  r sin  
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 E. Divergence of a Vector field
 The Divergence of a Vector field A at a point P is defined as the
outward flux per unit volume as the volume shrinks about P.


S
A.dS
div A   A  lim
v  0 v

(a) Positive divergence (b) negative divergence (c) zero

divergence
To obtain an expression for div A in
Cartesian coordinates from the earlier
eq at point P(xo,yo, zo) the point is
enclosed by a differential volume as
shown in the Figure . The surface
integral of the eq. is obtained from the
following eqn. by working through the 3-
dimensional Taylor series expansion.

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 Cont’d

Physical meaning:

Consider a flow of fluid:

• Figure a) shows a compressed air capped on one side. A
similar cap has just been removed from the other end and
air is rushing out.
 A 0

• If the mass of fluid (or charge) coming out of a domain is the

same as that entering the domain (see figure (b)), then, no
divergence, and  A 0

NB. A is the fluid velocity (or the current) field vector

 Cont’d

• Cartesian: A x A y A z
 A   
x y z

1 A A z
• Cylindrical:  A 
1 
 
 
Aρ 
 

z

• Spherical:

1  2 1  1 A
A  2
r r
r Ar   
r sin  
A sin  
r sin  

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 Cont’d

Properties:
• It produces a scalar field(because scalar product is involved).
• The divergence of a scalar V, div V, makes no sense

 A  B    A   B

 V A   V  A  A V
From the definition of the divergence of A in the earlier
equation:
 
A dS   A dv
S v

This is called the divergence theorem,

The divergence theorem states that the total

outward flux of a vector field A through the
closed surface S is the same as the volume integral13
of the divergence of A.
F. Curl of A Vector and Stokes's Theorem
Recall: the circulation of a vector field A around a closed  A dl
• path
The LCurl
is: of A is an axial (or rotational) vector L
– whose magnitude is the maximum circulation of A per unit area as
the area tends to zero and
– whose direction is the normal direction of the area when the area is
oriented so as to make the circulation maximum.

• Where: area S is
bounded by the
curve L and an is the
unit vector normal to
the surface S and is
determined using the
right hand rule.
 Cont’d

• Cartesian

ax ay az
  
 A 
x y z
Ax A y Az

 A z A y   A x A z   A y A x 
 A    a x  
   a y  
  a z

 y z   z x   x y 

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 Cont’d

• Cylindrical
a a az
1   
 A 
   z
A A A z

 1 A z A   A  A z 
 A    a   
    a

   z   z  

  

1   A 
A  
a z
    

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 Cont’d

• Spherical

ar ra r sin  a
1   
 A 
r 2 sin  r  
Ar rA A

 A 
1


  A sin  A 
ar  
 a
1  1 A r  rA

r sin      
r  sin   r  
  
1  rA  A r 
    a
r  r  
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 Cont’d

Properties of the Curl of a vector field:

• The curl of a vector field is another vector
• The curl of a scalar field V, ∇ X V, makes no sense
• The divergence of the curl of a vector field vanishes, ∇ • (∇ X A) = 0
• The curl of the gradient of a scalar field vanishes, that is, ∇ X ∇ V = 0.

For Vector fields A and B and a scalar field V

∇ X (A + B) = ∇ X A + ∇ X B

∇ X (A X B) = A(∇ • B) - B(∇ • A) + (B • ∇ A -
(A • ∇)B
∇ X (VA) = V ∇ X A + ∇ V
XA

Please see to other properties of the curl are in Appendix A of the

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text book
 Cont’d

Stokes’s Theorem

Stokes's theorem: states that the circulation of a

vector field A around a (closed) path-L is equal lo
the surface integral of the curl of A over the open
surface S bounded by L (see the Figure) provided
that A and ∇ X A are continuous on S.

A dl  A dS
L S

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 G. Laplacian of A Scalar

2
The Laplacian of a scalar field V, written as ∇ V, is the
divergence of the gradient of V.

Laplacian V  V 2V

      V V V 
 a x  a y  a z  . ax  ay  az 
 x y z   x y z 

that is,

 2
V  2
V  2
V
V  2  2  2
2

x y z

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 Cont’d

Similarly, for the cylindrical and the spherical coordinate systems:

1   V  1  2
V  2
V
V
2
    2  2
       2
z

1   2 V  1   V 
V  2  2  sin 
2
r 
r r  r  r sin     
1  2V
 2
r sin 2   2

The Laplacian operator of a vector field A is defined as the gradient

of the divergence of A minus the curl of the curl of A. i.e.,

2 A A  A     A
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 H. Classification of Vector fields

 Vector fields can be classified as:

(a) ∇ • A = 0, ∇XA=0
(b) ∇ • A ≠ 0, ∇XA=0
(c) ∇ • A = 0, ∇XA≠0
(d) ∇ • A ≠ O, ∇ X A ≠ O

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 Cont’d

All Vector fields can be classified in terms of their vanishing or

nonvanishing divergence or curl:

1. Solenoidal (or divergenceless) if div A = 0

Solenoidal fields have neither source nor sink with in the region

Examples of solenoidal fields are incompressible fluids,

magnetic fields, and conduction current density under
steady state conditions.
An irrotational field can always be expressed in terms of a scalar field V :

2. Irrotational (or Potential) if x A = 0

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