Physics 1004

Section B
Winter 2018

Dr. Ken Moats

Lecture 3

Electric Fields, Part 2

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 PHYS 1004B - Lecture 3 - Jan. 16, 2018

• 22.4: The Electric Field due to a Line of Charge

• 22.5: The Electric Field due to a Charged Disk

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 22.4 Electric Field Due to a Ring of Charge

• Line of charge bent into a circle of

radius R

• Assume our line is infinitely thin

• It has a charge per unit length

(linear charge density) of λ
Coulombs/metre

• We consider it as a large number of

small lengths, which can be
considered as point charges
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• Find the Electric Field at Point P,
a distance z above the ring’s
centre

• If the length of a segment is

ds, then the charge in a
segment is

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• The electric field generated
by charge dq is

• Each charge increment

produces an electric field at
point P

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• The electric field has
components which are
parallel and
perpendicular to the z
axis

• The perpendicular
components always point
inwards to the centre of
the ring
– They cancel each
other out as you move
around the ring
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• The components parallel to the z-axis
add up for each segment

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 adj z
r z cos q = =
hyp r

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r z

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• Replace dq with ds
using the linear
charge density

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• Which means we can write

• This is the electric field contribution dE

from a small segment ds of the whole
ring

• To find the total electric field at any point

z, we need to integrate all the line
segments around the circle 12
Definition of the radian:

• The radian is defined as the ratio of an arc length of a

circle to the radius

• There are 2π radians in a complete circle

s
• 2π radians = 360o θ
R
• The radian is dimensionless, because
it is the ratio of two lengths

• The circumference of a circle is 2πR

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Integrate around the ring of radius R:

The integration around the circle

goes from s = 0 to s = 2πR, the R
value of the circumference
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• The expression is much easier to integrate than it
seems, because everything is a constant, which does
not depend on the value of ds

The integral is the total

length around a circle
or radius R i.e. the
circumference

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• If the total charge on the ring is q, then:

charge
circumference
Charge/unit length

Equation 22-16

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• At a long distance from the ring, z >> R, which gives

Which is just back to the expression for a point charge.

A charged ring at long distance appears to be a point charge.
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 General Methods for Solving Line of Charge
Problems

1. If the line of charge is straight, use dx

If the line of charge is circular or an arc, use arc length ds

2. Introduce the charge on the element by using

dq = λ dx or dq = λ ds

You must have a go and practice these. Something like

this will turn up on a tutorial test and on the final exam –
ask at the Help Desk or ask me for assistance if you have
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trouble
3. Now introduce the electric field dE
(r being the distance from the element to the position
where you want to determine E)

1 ldx 1 lds
dE = dE =
4pe 0 r 2 4pe 0 r 2

4. If the charge is positive, draw the dE vector direction as

away from the charge

If the charge is negative, draw it towards the charge

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5. Look for symmetry. Are components of E from one
element cancelled out by components of E from another
element?

dE sinθ
P
dE cosθ r
θ
-L +L
x

6. Integrate the components of dE which don’t cancel, to

get the total value of E.
In the example above the horizontal component will cancel
with the horizontal component from the charge at -x
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PollEverywhere Question

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 22.5: Electric Field Due to a Charged Disk

• Find electric field a distance z above

the centre of the charged disk

• The charged ring was a 1-D, but this

is a 2-D charge distribution
• Radius R
• Surface charge density, 𝜎

• Could do a 2-D integral, but there is

an easier way

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 Electric Field Due to a Charged Disk

Recall the electric field of a ring of charge

Divide the disk into many thin rings.

The electric field, dE, from each ring
points along the z-axis and is given by

dq is the charge
on the ring of
thickness dr 23
 Electric Field Due to a Charged Disk

Charge distribution is 2-D, so use surface

charge density:

where dA is the area of the ring:

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 Electric Field Due to a Charged Disk

Rearranging gives:

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• To find the total electric field at any
point z, we need to integrate all the
rings from the centre (r = 0) to the
edge (r = R) of the disk.

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The integral is a standard one (look it up)

If you need to solve these complicated integrals on a

test/exam, you will be given them
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Simplifying gives:

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Recall the Coulomb constant:

Eqn. 22-26
E field for a
charged disk

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PollEverywhere Question

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Let R → ∞ (infinite sheet of charge)
or z → 0 (very close to a disk of charge)

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