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Spherical coordinates
1 Spherical coordinates
1.1 Essential concepts
We want to extend the concept of the derivative of a vector to cases where the vectors (or scalars) are
functions of more than one independent scalar variable, u1 , u2 , ..., un . Fortunately the results of subsection
(10.1.1) (p.337) are still valid, with the minor exception that the derivatives become partial derivatives
∂~
a
∂ui (because more than on variable is involved) defined as in ordinary differential calculus. In Cartesian
coordinates we have e.g.,
∂a ∂ax ∂ay ∂az
= i+ j+ k (1)
∂u ∂u ∂u ∂u
da ds da
In particular, (10.7) (i.e. du = du ds ) generalizes to the chain rule of partial differentiation (discussed in
section 5.5). If a = a(u1 , u2 , ..., un ) and each of the ui is also a function ui (v1 , v2 , ..., vn ) of the variables vi
then, generalizing (5.17) (page 159 in 3ed just replace f by a),
n
∂a ∂a ∂u1 ∂a ∂u2 ∂a ∂un X ∂a ∂uj
= + + ... + = (2)
∂vi ∂u1 ∂vi ∂u2 ∂vi ∂un ∂vi j=1
∂uj ∂vi
We also extend the concept of the differential of a vector given in (10.9) to vectors dependent on several
variables u1 , u2 , ..., un :
n
∂a ∂a ∂a X ∂a
da = du1 + du2 + ... + dun = duj (3)
∂u1 ∂u2 ∂un j=1
∂uj
This should be compared to what one gets when working only with scalar functions (see equation (5.15)
p.158). To understand how this relation originates we should look at e.g. equations (2.2) and (2.3) (p. 43
3ed) which state what the approximate change in the value of the function, ∆f , that results from a small
change ∆x in x by
df df
∆f ≈ ∆x → df = dx (4)
dx dx
the arrow is the limit in which the change ∆x becomes infinitesimally small, ∆x is then denoted by the
differential dx. The resulting equation relates the infinitesimal change in the function, df , to the infinitesimal
change dx that causes it.
As an example see eq. (10.20) in the book.
1.2 Surface
A curve in space can be described by the vector r(u) where u is the parameter. In similar manner a surface S
in space can be described by the vector r(u, v). As the parameters u and v vary, the end-point of the vector
moves over the surface. Note the important difference - we require two parameters to describe a surface,
whereas we need only one to describe a curve.
A surface in Cartesian coordinates is given by
we can also represent a surface by e.g. z = f (x, y) by setting x = u and y = v we can represent the surface
in parametric form
r(u, v) = ui + vj + z(u, v)k (6)
we could also have chosen g(x, y, z) = 0.
It is also possible to represent a curve r(λ) (where λ is a parameter) on the surface S by a pair of equations
relating the parameters u and v, for example u = f (λ) and v = g(λ). A parametric representation of the
curve is then found by straightforward substitution, i.e. r(λ) = r(u(λ), v(λ)).
If we differentiate it wrt. λ we get a total derivative on the LHS and on the RHS we can use (10.17)
which was explained above
dr ∂r du ∂r dv
= + (7)
dλ ∂u dλ ∂v dλ
which is the tangent to the curve r(λ) at any point on the surface S.
Holding u =cst and v =cst we get two curves - called Coordinate Curves - which pass through any point
P on S.
M. S. Butt 1
2. Spherical Coordinates
du
If u =cst then dλ = 0 thus it can be seen that the tangent vector for this curve will be in the follow-
∂r ∂r
ing direction ∂v . Likewise if v =cst the corresponding curve would be in the direction ∂u .
∂r ∂r
If the surface is smooth then at any point P on S the vectors ∂u and ∂v are linearly independent and
define the tangent plane T at the point P (see figure 10.4). This surface has a vector normal at any P it
is given by
∂r ∂r
n= × (8)
∂u ∂v
An infinitesimal vector displacement dr in the neighborhood of P is written as following (use what we have
learned - equation (3))
∂r ∂r
dr = du + dv (9)
∂u ∂v
Thus the element of area at P must be given by the infinitesimal parallelogram whose sides are the
coordinate curves. This can e.g. be looked up in Schaum’s and one finds that in general
∂r ∂r ∂r ∂r
dS = du ×
dv = × dudv = |n|dudv (10)
∂u ∂v ∂u ∂v
All this is now to be used in order to find how dV, dS, dr and r (the infinitesimal volume element, area
element, position displacement and the position respectively) will look like in spherical coordinates.
2 Spherical Coordinates
Of course it is well known from gymnasiet that in order to convert from Cartesian coordinates x, y, z to
spherical polar coordinates r, θ, φ we can relate
substituting this into eq.(5) we see that the position vector may be written as
as explained after eq.(7) we can construct tangent vectors to our coordinate curves (in our case for different
cases of constant θ, φ, r) by taking partial derivatives of r with respect to r, θ and φ respectively and dividing
each one with its length (to obtain unit vectors) we get
1 ∂r
êr = = sin(θ)cos(φ)i + sin(θ)sin(φ)j + cos(θ)k (13)
|er | ∂r
1 ∂r
êθ = = cos(θ)cos(φ)i + cos(θ)sin(φ)j − sin(θ)k (14)
|eθ | ∂θ
1 ∂r
êφ = = −sin(φ)i + cos(φ)j (15)
|eφ | ∂φ
these are the orthonormal set of basis vectors for spherical polar coordinates.
Note the scale factors
|er | = 1 (16)
|eθ | = r (17)
|eφ | = rsin(θ) (18)
(show this and derive the unit vectors!) A general infinitesimal vector displacement in spherical polars is,
by virtue of (3),
∂r ∂r ∂r
dr = dr + dθ + dφ (19)
∂r ∂θ ∂φ
= êr |er |dr + êθ |eθ |dθ + êφ |eφ |dφ (20)
= drêr + rdθêθ + rsin(θ)dφêφ (21)
M. S. Butt 2
2. Spherical Coordinates
Lets now turn back to the area element in eq.(10) which is spanned by the coordinate curves - resulting in
an infinitesimal parallelogram. We found the following area
∂r ∂r ∂r ∂r
dS =
× dudv = × dθdφ (22)
∂u ∂v ∂θ ∂φ
∂r ∂r
it is clear from the textbook (3ed p.346-347) that |n| = ∂θ × ∂φ = r2 sin(θ). So we obtain the following
area element for the sphere
∂r ∂r
dS = × dθdφ = r2 sin(θ)dθdφ (23)
∂θ ∂φ
Finally we are also interested in the volume element. Consult figure 10.10. and focus on the infinitesimal
displacement vector eq.(21). Note in polar coordinates, if e.g. θ changes by dθ, with φ and r held constant,
then the distance moved is not dθ, but ds = rdθ, and likewise for the other variables (the scale factors are
of utmost importance!)
The element of volume in spherical polar coordinates (again see figure 10.10) is the volume of the in-
finitesimal parallelepiped given by
∂r ∂r ∂r
dV = dr ·
dθ × dφ (24)
∂r ∂θ ∂φ
∂r ∂r ∂r
= · × drdθdφ (25)
∂r ∂θ ∂φ
= |êr · (êθ × êφ )| |er ||eθ ||eφ |drdθdφ (26)
2
= r sin(θ)drdθdφ (27)
the dot product and crossproduct merely yields a factor of 1 since the unit vectors are orthonormal.
M. S. Butt 3