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Most of the problems I run into while studying electrostatics are ones regarding a charged thread for which I need to calculate the vector of the electric field. The thing that is confusing me is how to integrate dE.

For example, I need to find E for this long angled thing with two sides of length a each. The solution says that I should separate it into two parts so I could apply superposition. I figured that out, but the second picture confuses me. Why did they put the first side on the negative part of the x-axis?

enter image description here

Can someone describe how to solve this problem? I don't know where to start from.

Quant
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1 Answers1

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This seems to be a homework or self-educational question, so I won't show the full solution. Just three starting points.

There's no physical reason to mirror the charge, but I quess it makes calculation easier and / or less error-prone. Don't forget to mirror the solution and reassemble the two line charges again at the end!

Integrating over x

The simplest approach to calculate the field at point M is to use the formula for the field of a point charge and integrate it over the total charge.

Let's introduce a new parameter \$b\$ which should denote the distance between a certain portion \$dQ\$ of the charge distribution to the origin \$O\$. This means \$b\in[0;a]\$, and you can rewrite \$dQ=\rho_s\,db\$.

Now, the field generated by a piece \$dQ\$ of charge is:

$$d\vec{E}=\frac{dQ}{4\pi\varepsilon_0}\frac{1}{|r|^2}\frac{\vec{r}}{|r|}=\frac{\rho_s}{4\pi\varepsilon_0}\frac{\vec{r}}{|r|^3}\,db$$ $$\vec{E}=\int_0^a\frac{\rho_s}{4\pi\varepsilon_0}\frac{\vec{r}}{|r|^3}\,db$$

The problem here is that $$\vec{r}=\begin{pmatrix}x+b\\y\end{pmatrix} \ \Rightarrow \ |r|^3=\sqrt{(x+b)^2+y^2}^3$$ which makes the integration a bit tough.

Integrating over \$\beta\$

The second sketch implies that you may integrate over an angle \$\beta\$. Note you can write

$$\vec{r}=\underbrace{\begin{pmatrix}\sin\beta\\\cos\beta\end{pmatrix}}_{=\vec{r}/|\vec{r}|}\cdot\frac{y}{\cos\beta}=\begin{pmatrix}y\cdot\tan\beta\\y\end{pmatrix}$$

which simplifies your integral. Note that the integration interval now is \$\int_{\beta_1}^{\beta_2}...d\beta\$. Also, you have to find a new expression \$dQ=...d\beta\$. (I didn't calculate this and also didn't try out how difficult the integral becomes)

Different approach using potential

Another standard approach is to calculate the potential via

$$\vec{V}=\int_0^a\frac{\rho_s}{4\pi\varepsilon_0}\frac{1}{|r|}\,db$$

which is much simpler. The E-field can then be calculated via \$\vec{E}=\vec{\nabla}V\$.
To my knowledge, this is the standard way to calculate the field of a line charge.

sweber
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  • Nicely written answer. On the geometric set up between the two diagrams - the mirroring is around the y-axis, and since M is not on the y-axis, so it is not mirroring for this calculation. Perhaps the main purpose of the second diagram is to suggest the use of \$ \beta \$. And, shouldn't \$\vec{r}=\begin{pmatrix}x-b\\y\end{pmatrix}\$? – rioraxe Nov 21 '15 at 20:03
  • @rioraxe: I'm not sure what you want to say about the mirroring. The charge is mirrored, M is not. This has to be taken into account in a last step after doing all the math. I also have no real good argument for this mirrored sketch, but I used it for the formulas. As b>0 is the distance charge <-> origin, it must be \$(x+b)\$ – sweber Nov 22 '15 at 12:16
  • The geometric setup of the second diagram is not the mirror of the first in respect to M. So if you calculate based on the second diagram, since it was not a mirror in the first place, there is no simple way to "un-mirror" the result and use it for the original first diagram. – rioraxe Nov 22 '15 at 21:23