11

Natural Coordinates ( from page of scribble1 )

18

i x
x = x ei where ei = i

r = rs c x
^ + rs s y
^ + rc z
^

= ( rs c , rs s , rc )

= r^
r

Natural Spherical Coordinates

x
er = = s c x
^ + s s y
^ + c z
^
r

x
e = = rc c x
^ + rc s y
^ rs z
^

x
e = = rs s x
^ + rs c y
^

Unit Natural Spherical Coordinates

Any vector can be expressed in terms of the spherical unit vectors

^ ^ ^ ^
(^
r , , ) as = r r
^ + +

^ ^
where {er = r^
r, e = r , e = rs } and

r
^ = s c x
^ + s s y
^ + c z
^

^
= c c x
^ + c s y
^ s z
^

^
= s x
^ + c y
^

^ ^
To switch from {x,
^ y^, z
^} to {^
r , , } use

s c c c s ^
r ^
r s c s s c
x
^ x
^

^ ^
y
^ = s s c s c
and

c c
=
c s s y
^

^ ^
z
^ c s 0 s c 0 z
^
 1 cof (gij )
r ij i j ij
Remember: ei = gij = ei ej g = e e (g ) = (gij ) =
i
g

1 0 0
1 0 0
1
2 ij 0 0
gij = 0 r 0 and g = r
2

2 2 1
0 0 r sin 0 0 2

2
r sin

Let's use the above to obtain the gradient and laplacian for spherical coordinates!

i i ij
We will be using: = i e = i e = g i ej (where i )
i

1 2 3
and = r = =

ij
= g i ej

11 22 33
= g er + g e + g e
r

1 1
= er + 2
e + 2
e
2
r r r s

1 1
^ ^
= ^
r + +
r r rs

1 1
^ ^
The Gradient in Spherical Coordinates is = ^
r + +
r r rs