2.

Cylindrical Polar Coordinate System

It is usually convenient to express the gradient , divergence A , curl A , and

Laplacian 2 , of scalar and vector fields , and A , respectively, in terms of coordinate
systems other than the Cartesian coordinate system. One such coordinate system is the
cylindrical polar coordinate system.
z
Px, y, z

ez

e
e

z
k
j

As shown in the figure above, the position of a point P having Cartesian coordinates x , y , z
may be expressed in terms of cylindrical polar coordinates , , z where
x cos

(31.a)

y sin

(31.b)

zz

(31.c)

The position vector of P may therefore be written as

r i cos j sin kz

(32)

Taking the partial derivative of r with respect to , , and z respectively we have

r
e i cos j sin

(33a)

r
e i sin j cos

(33b)

r
e z k
z

(33c)

The vectors e , e and e z point in the direction of increasing , , and z respectively. Their
magnitudes are
e e e

cos sin
2

e e e 2 sin 2 cos2

e z k 1

(34a)

(34b)

(34c)

Thus e and e z are unit vectors. Since e too is a unit vector, we may write the unit vectors
e , e , ez of the cylindrical polar coordinate system as
e

r
i cos j sin

(35a)

1 r
i sin j cos

(35b)

ez

r
k
z

(35c)

The unit vectors in equations (35) may also be written as

e

1 r
h

(36a)

1 r
h

(36b)

ez

1 r
hz z

(36c)

where h 1, h , hz 1 are known as the scale factors for the cylindrical polar coordinate
system.