Submitted to American Journal of Physics, September 22, 2014

Ageometricmethodtodeterminethedirectionofelectricfieldduetoa
uniformlychargedlinesegment

FulinZuo

DepartmentofPhysics

UniversityofMiami

CoralGables,FL33124

Abstract

Ageometricalapproachtocalculatetheelectricfieldduetoauniformlychargedrodispresented.The

resultissurprisinglysimpleandelegant.Usingpuregeometricalquantitieslikelengthandangle,the

directionoftheelectricfieldinthischargeconfigurationcanbegraphicallydefined.Understandingand

applicationofthisresultcanleadtoadeeperappreciationofsymmetryinaseeminglyunsymmetric

system.

Introduction:

Theelectromagnetismpartofthecollegephysicsiswidelyperceivedasthemostdifficultpartofthe

introductoryphysicscoursewherecalculusandlawsofphysics,inthiscase,Coulombslaw,are

combinedtofindquantitiessuchastheelectricfieldorelectricpotentialforextendedcharge

distributions.Formoststudents,itistheirfirsttimetoactuallyapplyorrelearncalculusintheworldof

physics.Toaccomplishthisgoal,itisagoldstandardinnearlyeverycalculusbasedphysicstextbookto

startwiththeelectricfieldcalculationforauniformlychargedlinesegment[16].Theresultscanbe
simplifiedwhenthelineisinfinitelylong,whichcanthenbecomparedtoasimplealgebraicderivation

usingGaussslaw.

ApplicationsofGaussslawrequirehighsymmetryoftheelectricfield.Sphericalchargedistributionis

theonlysystemwherefullsphericalsymmetryispreservedforanysizedsystem.Cylindricalorplanar

symmetryrequiresthesystemtobeinfinitelylargesuchastheinfinitelylongwireorinfinitelylarge

sheettomakeuseofGaussslaw.Forafiniteuniformlychargedlinesegment,symmetryisonlydefined

ontheaxisbisectingtheline.Forpointsawayfromtheaxis,directionoftheelectricfieldisnolonger

welldefinedintuitively.Whileitisstraightforwardtocalculatethecomponents,theresultsoftenlook

complicated.

Thisnaturallyleadstoaquestion:aretherehiddensymmetriesintheproblem?

Results:

TheproblemhereistofindtheelectricfieldeverywhereduetoathinrodoflengthLwithauniform

chargedensity .Forgenerality,therodisplacedonthexaxisfromx=atox=bwithb=a+L.The

calculationisnormallydonefortwocases,oneforthefieldalongtheaxisandtheotherawayfromthe

axis.Thecalculationofelectricfieldonthexaxisisfairlystraightforward,asthedirectionisthesame

foreveryinfinitesimalcontributiondEfromadqonthechargedrodwith .

ThecalculationofelectricfieldatapointP(y)ontheyaxisismoreinvolvedbecausethefinite

componentsinbothxandydirections.

Thereareusuallytwoapproachestofindthenetelectricfield.Mostly,itisdonebyintegratingdExand

dEycomponentsintermsofvariablexalongthexaxis.
 sin ](1)

cos ,(2)

hereitinvolvesaslightlymorecomplicatedintegral

Figure1CalculationofelectricfieldatpointP.Theinfinitesimalcontributionfromdxismappedtoaninfinitesimalarc

segment .

Analternativemethodtogetaroundtheintegralaboveisthroughachangeofvariablefromxtothe

angle .Byusingtherelationship tan , , ,thecomponentscanbe

obtainedasfollows,

sin sin cos cos (3)

cos cos sin sin (4)

Clearly,theintegralbecomesmuchsimplerintermsoftheangle .Theresultsareofcourseconsistent

witheq.(1)andeq.(2),here sin and sin .

Normallythisishowthisexampleinmostcollegephysicstextbooksisdone.Limitingcasesarethen

discussedwhentherodisinfinitelylong(L>>y)orthepointofobservationisfargreatercomparedtothe

sizeofrod(y>>L).Forintermediatecases,professorsandstudentsalikearegenerallysatisfiedwith

knowinghowtosolvetheproblembutbelievingtheansweristoocomplicatedtocontemplateorto

makesenseof.

Hereitisshownthattheanswersaboveforthefiniterodareinfactverysimpleandithasasimple

geometricalmeaningtoit.TheinfinitesimalcontributiondEatapointPontheyaxisfrom onthex

axisisgivenby

(5)

Thelaststepineq.(5)correspondstotheinfinitesimalcontributionfromanarcsegmentofradiusyand

arclength withthesamelinechargedensityof .Inanotherword,theelectricfieldcontribution

fromthechargeonthexaxiscanbemappedtothecontributionbythechargesonthecircularsegment

ofradiusy,asshowninFigure1.Foracirculararc,thesymmetryaxisiswelldefined.Thus,thetotal

electricfieldduetoacircularsegmentisalongthedirectionbisectingthearc.Ifthelinesconnectingthe

endsaredefinedby and ,thearcisthendefinedbyangularspreadof ,thebisectingline

willbepointingat .


Figure2Efieldpointsinthesamedirectionasthelinebisectingtheangledefinedbythepointandtheendsoftherod.

Thegeometricargumentiscertainlyconsistentwiththedirectionoftotalelectricfieldcalculatedabove

(eq.(3)andeq.(4))definedbycot cot ,asshowninFigure2.

Themagnitudeofthetotalelectricfieldcanbecalculatedforthesimplearctobegivenby

sin ordirectlyfromeq.(3)andeq.(4).

Thesimplicityofthetransformationenablesonetopinpointthedirectionandmagnitudeoftheelectric

fieldduetoanyuniformlychargerodatanypointinspace,usinggeometricallydefinedquantitieslike

radiusy(verticaldistancefromthepointtotheline)andtheangledefinedbetweenthelinesconnecting

thepointtotheendsoftherod.

Oneinterestingexampleofthistransformationisthecalculationofelectricfieldontheyaxisduetoa

semiinfiniteuniformlychargedwire,asshowninFigure3.Inthiscase, , 0,theelectricfield

alwayspointsinthedirectionof withamagnitudeof .Theresultslooksomewhatcounter

intuitive,asonemightexpectthefieldtopointmoretowardthenegativexaxisasyapproacheszero.

However,intermsofthemappedchargedistribution,itcorrespondstoaquartercircleregardlessofthe

radiusy,sothefieldalwayspointsinthesamedirection.

Figure3ElectricFieldontheyaxisduetoasemiinfinitewire.

Foraninfinitelongwire,thetransformationbecomesahalfcircleofradiusywithE= ,which

correspondstotheresultobtainedeasilyfromGaussslaw.

Thedirectionoftheelectricfieldcanalsobederivedfromcalculatingtheelectricpotentialfirst.The

gradientoftheelectricpotentialdefinesthedirectionofelectricfield.Itisknownthattheequipotential

surfaceofachargedrodcorrespondstoanellipsoid.However,themathematicaltransformationis

rathercomplicatedandwellbeyondthelevelofintroductoryphysics.

Themappingtransformationcanbeapplieddirectlytothecalculationofgravitationalforceduetoarod

ofuniformmassdensityonapointmass.Itwouldbeofgreatinterestifsimilarprojectioncanbefound

inothersystemsorinhigherdimensions.

Conclusion:

Thecontributiontoelectricfieldfromaninfinitesimallinesegmentdxcanbemappedtoinfinitesimal

arcsegmentofafixedradiusandthisleadstoamappingoffinitelinesegmenttoafinitecirculararc.

Thesymmetryaxisofthearciseasilydefined,thuspinpointingthedirectionandthemagnitudeofthe

totalelectricfield.
Itishardtobelieveorevenunimaginablethatthishasnotalreadybeenfoundorpublishedsomewhere

intheoldmanuscriptsorhandwrittennotes.Yetthefactthatsuchasimpleandeleganttransformation

isnotpreserved,ifknown,ordiscussedinanycontemporaryphysicstextbooksissimplyastonishing.

Studentsatthecalculusleveldeserveandarepreparedtoappreciatethebeautyofthetransformation.

Thetreatmentofthisproblembytransformingaseeminglycomplicatedandnonsymmetriccharge

distributiontoasymmetriccircularsegmentisinterestingbyitself.Discussionofthisapproachwill

enlightenandencouragescienceandengineeringorientedstudentstopursuesimplicityandsymmetry

inthiscomplexworld.

Acknowledgement:

IwanttothankmanyofmycolleaguesinthephysicsdepartmentandDr.XuewenWangformanyuseful

discussions.SpecificallyIwanttothankDr.ThomasCurtrightforpointingouttheellipsoidal

equipotentialsurfaceandotherstimulatingconversations.

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