Off-axis electric eld of a ring of charge

Indrek Mandre <indrek@mare.ee>

http://www.mare.ee/indrek/
July 1, 2007
1 Setting
A generic point

p

on a ring laying on the XY plane can be described as

= Rcos

i +Rsin

j = [0, 2)
where R is the radius of the ring,

i and

j are unit vectors and is the parametric angle.
We want to nd the off-axis electric eld strength in point p. As the ring is symmetric
we can place the point on the XZ plane and describe it through radial distance r from
the axis of the ring and axial distance a along the axis of the ring. With the angle
between normal vector

k and point at p we can describe the following relations:
p = (r, 0, a) = r

i +a

k
cos =
p

k
|p|
r = |p| sin
a = |p| cos
p

= (r Rcos)

i Rsin

j +a

k
|p

| =
_
(r Rcos)
2
+R
2
sin
2
+a
2
=
_
r
2
2rRcos+R
2
cos
2
+R
2
sin
2
+a
2
=
_
r
2
+R
2
+a
2
2rRcos
2 Electric potential at point p
Electric potential of a point of charge is
=
q
4
0
r
Let Q be the total charge on the ring and let the charge be uniformly distributed. Inte-
grating over the ring of charge gives us
=
1
4
0
Q
2R
Z
2R
0
ds
|p

|
1
=
Q
4
0
1
2
Z
2
0
d

r
2
+R
2
+a
2
2rRcos
=
Q
4
0
1

Z

0
d

r
2
+R
2
+a
2
2rRcos
( =

2
= 2, d = 2d)
=
Q
4
0
2

Z
2
0
d
_
r
2
+R
2
+a
2
+2rR(12sin
2
)
=
Q
4
0
2

q
Z
2
0
d
_
1
4rR
q
sin
2

=
Q
4
0
2

q
Z
2
0
d
_
1k
2
sin
2

=
Q
4
0
2

K(k)

q
where
q = r
2
+R
2
+a
2
+2rR
k =

4rR
q
and K(k) is the complete elliptic integral of the rst kind.
3 Electric eld
Electric eld is the negative gradient of the electric potential:
=
Q
4
0
2

K(k)

E = =
_

r
, 0,

a
_
This requires derivation of the elliptic integral function:
K(k)
k
=
E(k) (1k
2
)K(k)
k(1k
2
)
Deriving the axial component of the electric eld
q
a
= 2a
k
a
=
1
2
1
_
4rR
q
(4rR)(2a)
q
2
=
ak
q
2
K(k)
a
=
K(k)
k
k
a

a
=
Q
4
0
2

_
_
E(k)(1k
2
)K(k)
k(1k
2
)
_

ak
q
_

q
1
2
1

q
2aK(k)
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2

_
_

E(k)(1k
2
)K(k)
(1k
2
)
a

q

aK(k)

q
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2a

_
_

E(k)(1k
2
)K(k)+K(k)(1k
2
)
(1k
2
)

q
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2a

E(k)
(1k
2
)q
3
2
_
=
Q
4
0
2a

E(k)
q
3
2
(1k
2
)
The same for the radial component:
q
r
= 2(r +R)
k
r
=
1
2
1
_
4rR
q
4Rq(4rR)2(r +R)
q
2
=
1
_
4rR
q
2Rk
2
(r +R)
q
=
2Rk
2
(r +R)
kq
dK(k)
dk
=
E(k) (1k
2
)K(k)
k(1k
2
)
K(k)
r
=
dK(k)
dk
k
r

r
=
Q
4
0
2

_
_
E(k)(1k
2
)K(k)
k(1k
2
)
_
2Rk
2
(r+R)
kq
_

q
1
2
1

q
2(r +R)K(k)
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2

_
_
(E(k)(1k
2
)K(k))(2Rk
2
(r+R))
k
2
(1k
2
)

q

(r+R)K(k)

q
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2

_
_
(E(k)(1k
2
)K(k))(2Rk
2
(r+R))(r+R)K(k)k
2
(1k
2
)
k
2
(1k
2
)

q
q
_
_
=
Q
4
0
2

_
(E(k) (1k
2
)K(k))(2Rk
2
(r +R)) (1k
2
)K(k)k
2
(r +R)
k
2
(1k
2
)q
3
2
_
3
=
Q
4
0
2

_
2RE(k) E(k)k
2
(r +R) 2R(1k
2
)K(k)
k
2
(1k
2
)q
3
2
_
=
Q
4
0
2
k
2
(1k
2
)q
3
2
(2RE(k) k
2
(r +R)E(k) 2R(1k
2
)K(k))
=
Q
4
0
2
k
2
(1k
2
)q
3
2
(2RE(k) k
2
rE(k) k
2
RE(k) 2RK(k) +2Rk
2
K(k))
=
Q
4
0
2
k
2
(1k
2
)q
3
2
(E(k)(2Rk
2
(r +R)) 2RK(k)(1k
2
))
4 Results
Here are the electric eld radial and axial components for the off-axis electric eld of
a ring of charge:
E
r
=
Q
4
0
2
q
3
2
(1)
1

(2RK(

)(1) E(

)(2R(r +R)))
E
a
=
Q
4
0
2
q
3
2
(1)
aE(

)
where
q = r
2
+R
2
+a
2
+2rR
=
4rR
q
and K(

) is the complete elliptic integral of the rst kind and E(

) is the complete
elliptic integral of the second kind.
As a bonus here are the complementary equations for the off-axis magnetic eld of
a ring of current:
B
r
=

0
4
I
2

q
a
r
_
E(

)
q2rR
q4rR
K(

)
_
B
a
=

0
4
I
2

q
_
E(

)
R
2
r
2
a
2
q4rR
+K(

)
_
5 Sources
The following material was used in compiling this paper:
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Off-axis electric eld of a ring of charge
Fredy R. Zypman,
http://www.physics.buffalo.edu/~sen/documents/eld_by_charged_ring.pdf
4
Elliptic Integrals, Elliptic Functions and Theta Functions
Prof. J. R. Culham
http://www.mhtlab.uwaterloo.ca/courses/me755/
Off-axis Field Due to a Current Loop
Eric Dennison
http://www.netdenizen.com/emagnet/offaxis/iloopoffaxis.htm
5