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SphericalCoord Gradient

The document provides information about natural coordinates and spherical coordinates. It defines the unit vectors for natural spherical coordinates and shows how to express a vector in terms of these unit vectors. It also gives the transformation matrices to switch between Cartesian and spherical coordinate systems. Finally, it derives expressions for the gradient and Laplacian in spherical coordinates.

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stephenbankes
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views2 pages

SphericalCoord Gradient

The document provides information about natural coordinates and spherical coordinates. It defines the unit vectors for natural spherical coordinates and shows how to express a vector in terms of these unit vectors. It also gives the transformation matrices to switch between Cartesian and spherical coordinate systems. Finally, it derives expressions for the gradient and Laplacian in spherical coordinates.

Uploaded by

stephenbankes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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

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