Example 21.

15: Field of an electric dipole

An electric dipole is centered at the origin, with its dipole moment p oriented in the direction
of the positive x-axis. Derive an approximate expression for the electric field at the point P
on the x-axis for which x is much larger than the dipole length d.

Solution
 is given by the vector
We use the principle of superposition that says the total electric field of the dipole E
 + and E
sum of the fields E  − produced by the positive and negative charge in the dipole. Figure 1 illustrates
geometry of the problem:

-q +q E- P E+
- + x
O
p
d x - d/2
x + d/2

Fig. 1. Calculating the electric field of an electric dipole with dipole moment p at a point P
located on the dipole axis.

 of the dipole at a general position [x,y] is given by

The total electric field E

 =E
+ + E
− = 1 q 1 q
E 2 2
r̂+ − r̂−
4π0 [(x − d/2) + y ] 4π0 [(x + d/2)2 + y 2 ]
with
(x − d/2) ı̂ y ĵ
r̂+ = +
[(x − d/2)2 + y 2 ]1/2 [(x − d/2)2 + y 2 ]1/2
(x + d/2) ı̂ y ĵ
r̂− = +
[(x + d/2)2 + y 2 ]1/2 [(x + d/2)2 + y 2 ]1/2
being the unit vectors pointing from the positive charge and the negative charge of the dipole to the field
point P , respectively. In our specific situation, point P lies on the x-axis (y = 0), r̂+ = r̂− = ı̂, and the
equation for the total electric field E simplifies as
 
 1 q 1 q q 1 1
E = ı̂ − ı̂ = − ı̂
4π0 [(x − d/2)2 ] 4π0 [(x + d/2)2 ] 4π0 (x − d/2)2 (x + d/2)2
 
q 1 1
= − ı̂ (1)
4π0 x2 (1 − 2x d 2
) (1 + 2xd 2
)

Let us now assume that x  d. In this limit, we can use the binomial expansion

n(n − 1)z 2
(1 + z)n ∼
= 1 + nz + + ...,
2

1
which holds for |z| < 1. Identifying z with d/2x, n with (−2) and keeping only the linear term in the binomial
expansion, we obtain
1 ∼1+ d
d 2 =
(1 − 2x ) x
1 ∼1− d
d 2 = x
(1 + 2x )

Consequently, Eq. (1) becomes

 
 ∼ q d d qd p
E = 1 + − (1 − ) ı̂ = ı̂ = (2)
4π0 x2 x x 2π0 x3 2π0 x3

where p = qd ı̂ is the electric dipole moment. From Eq. (2), we see that the electric field of a dipole decreases
with distance as 1/x3 , faster than the electric field of a point charge. This behavior is caused by the competing
effects of the electric fields produced at a given field point P by the positive and negative charges forming
the dipole.
In Fig. 2, the ratio of the exact dipole electric field given by Eq. (1) to the approximate field of Eq. (2) is
shown as a function of the normalized distance from the dipole (x/d). As we can see, for x/d > 10, the two
solutions differ by less than 0.5%. Thus, for distances from the dipole x > 10d, we can describe the electric
field of a dipole on its axis by simple Eq. (2), making an error of less than 0.5%.

1.7
1.6
Eexact / Eapprox

1.5
1.4 1 p
Eapprox =
2πε0 x3
1.3
1.2
1.1
1.0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10
x/d

Fig. 2. Comparison of the exact electric field of an electric dipole Eexact given by Eq. (1) and
approximate dipole field Eapprox given by Eq. (2) as a function of the normalized distance
x/d from the dipole.