Additional Examples Related to Electric Fields

12

0 = 8.854 10

1
9 N m
ke :=
= 8.988 10
4 0
2
C

N m

Mathcad does not include i,j,k unit vectors; instead it uses column-vector format, and that's what appears here.
6

N := 10

mN := 10

are convenient notations to have available.

Small point-like charged objects are placed at the following locations: object '1' is on the x-axis at x = -25.0 cm, object '2'
is on the y-axis at y = +15.0 cm, and object '3' is located at (x,y) = (+12, +16) cm. The charges of the objects are as
follows:
q 1 := 120 nC

r13 :=

q 2 := 150 nC

12 ( 25) cm

16 0

r23 :=

r13 := r13 = 40.311 cm

F13 := ke

q1 q3
r13

12 0 cm

16 15
Finding vector magnitudes is a built-in function.

r23 := r23 = 12.042 cm

670.096 N

289.771

r13 =

F3 := F13 + F23 =

Find the force on object '3'.

q 3 := 110 nC

9522 N

560

F23 := ke

q2 q3
r23

1.019 104
N
849.324

r23 =

:= angle F3 , F3 = 3.36
0
1

F3 := F3 = 9.54 mN

Finding the angle is also built-in.

A small object with a charge of -25.0 C is located at x = -12.0 cm on the x-axis, and another small object with a charge of
+75.0 C is located at x = +57.0 cm on the x-axis. What is the electric field at the point (x,y) = (9.0, 20.0) cm?
q 1 := 25.0 C

q 2 := 75.0 C

r1 :=

9 ( 12) cm

20 0

r1 := r1 = 29 cm

9 57 cm

20 0

r2 := r2 = 52 cm

r2 :=

1.935 106 N

E1 := ke
r =
3 1
6 C
r1
1.843 10
q1

4.24 106 N

E := E1 + E2 =

5 C
8.84 10

2.301 106 N

E2 := ke
r =
3 2
5 C
r2
9.588 10
q2

6 N

E := E = 4.33 10

:= angle E 0 , E1 = 192

Q z

We found for a charged ring of radius R, centered on the z-axis, that the field is: E = ke

along the axis.

( z 2 + R 2)

1.5

Say that we find that the field for a particular ring is 350 N/C at z = 50 cm, and 110 N/C at z = 100 cm. What is the radius
of the ring and what is its charge?
ke Q ( 50 cm)
2

( 50cm) + R
2

1.5

= 350

ke Q ( 100 cm)

( 100cm) + R

1.5

( 50 cm) + R

70

1.5

35
11

( 100cm) + R =
2

11

two equations and two unknowns

( 100cm) 2 + R2

2
2
2
( 50 cm) + R

2
2

Divide the first equation by the second:

( 100cm) + R

= 110

70

2
2
( 50cm) + R
11

3
3

70
2
2
2 70
( 100cm) ( 50cm) = R 1
11
11

3
70

:= 1 = 2.434
11

350
Q :=

R :=

2
2

:= ( 100cm)

R = 0.241 m

70 ( 50cm) 2 = 0.141 m2
11

R = 24 cm

N
C

( 50cm) + R
2

( 50cm) ke

1.5

Q = 1.332 10

Q = 13 nC

A certain ring has a radius of 40 cm and a charge of 18 nC. What is the maximum magnitude of the electric field along
its axis?
Maxima and minima are found by setting a derivative equal to zero.
d
E=
dz

ke Q

(R

+z

(
2.5

R 2 z

) =0

Q
Emax = ke

z=

for maximum E.

Emax :=

2 ke ( 18 nC)
( 40cm)

3 N

= 2.022 10

3 N

Emax = 2.0 10

2
R

R2

+ R2
2

=
1.5

ke Q R

3 R2

2
2

=
1.5

2 ke Q
R

We found the field for a charged disk to be:

2 ke Q

E=

2
2
R +z
z

A certain charged ring has a radius of 24 cm. A small charged object with a mass of 15 grams is initially located 3.0 cm
above the disk, which is oriented with its surface parallel to the ground. This small object accelerates upward at 4.0 m/s
when released. [It is acted upon by gravity and the field of the disk only.]
At what height does it reach its maximum velocity?
A maximum in velocity means that the acceleration is zero; that means that the net force is zero. That means that
the upward electrical force and the downward force of gravity are equal. We don't know the charge of the disk or
the charge of the object. We don't need to know those.

Fnet = E q M g

a=

E q
M

E q

=a+ g=

2 ke Q q
M R

2
2
R +z
z

Think of the product of the charges as a single variable; if we really want to simplify, we can let 2kQq be a single
variable. Call it (just to give it a name).
a := 4.0

m
s

R := 24 cm

:= ( a + g) M R 1
2

2
2
R +z
z

Now, we need to solve:

R +z

M R g

M := 15 gm

= 0.014

m kg
s

=g
2
2
R +z
z

for a = 0.

M R g

= 1
2
2

R +z

2
M R

z := 3.0 cm

=1

R +z

M R g

To simplify the following steps, give the quantity on the right a name:

z = R + z

z ( 1 ) = R

z =

M R g

= 0.143
:= 1

z := R

z = 9.8 cm

In class we examined a line of uniform charge density along the x-axis with the observer located at some point along the
x-axis having a higher value of x than any point on the line charge. The text does an example in which the observer is
located at the origin.
2

What if the line has a variable charge density? Say, that ( x) = x , and that the observer is on the axis with a coordinate
beyond any on the line.

dE =

ke dq

dq = dx = x dx

r = xo x

dE =

ke x dx

(xo x)

The resulting integral is no longer "simple"; it's not BAD, but we like simple better, right? If we don't want to do the
integration by parts that is the "straightforward" approach, then we can do a coordinate transformation.
Define: w = xo x . Then, dw = -dx, and x = xo w.

dE = ke

( xo w)2 (dw)
2

x 2

xo
o

= ke
2
+ 1 dw
2

w
w

The limits for the integration also are altered:

x x

o 2

E = ke

x x
o

w1 = xo x1

w2 = xo x2

x 2

1
o 2 xo + 1 dw = k x 2 1
2 x ln xo x2 + x x

e
o x x
o x x
1
2
2

w
xo x2 )
(
)
(
o
1
o
1

No, that's not a "pretty" result, but getting it this way is fairly easy.

In class we found that the field produced by a uniform line charge for an observer some distance away on a bisector of the
2 ke Q
line can be expressed as: E =
. [Here, I'm just using "r" to mean "perpendicular distance from the line".
2

r 4 r + L

Say that we have a square, made up of four lines, each of which has a length of 25 cm, and each of which has a charge of
12 nC. What is the magnitude of the electric field a distance of 60 cm from the center of the square (measured
perpendicular to the plane of the square)?
First, find the field contribution due to each segment:

Ei :=

2 ke ( 12 nC)
2

( 60cm) 4 ( 60 cm) + ( 25cm)

= 293.288
2

N
C

Next, we need the component of this that is perpendicular to the square. [The value that we have points away from
the individual line segment. Call the direction z.

Ez := Ei

60
2

60 + 12.5

= 287.123
2

[Why 12.5?

Edge of square to center of square is half a side length.]

The total field is four times this (since there are four segments):

3 N
E := 4 Ez = 1.148 10
C

E = 1.1

kN
C