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Lesson 2

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26 views6 pages

Lesson 2

Uploaded by

oneclickcyberservice
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Boundary Conditions for E and D

If an electric field exists in a region consisting of two different media, the conditions that the
field must satisfy at the interface separating the media are called boundary conditions. These
conditions are helpful in determining the field on one side of the boundary if the field on the
other side is known.

Dielectric-dielectric boundary conditions

Consider the E field existing in a region consisting of two different dielectrics, media 1 and
media 2, characterized by and as shown in the diagram below

and , the respective electric field intensities in each media can be decomposed into
tangential and normal components (with respect to the interface) as follows

Applying the following Maxwell’s equations

to the closed path abcda and assuming that the path is very small with respect to the variation in
E, then
As , we get

Therefore, the tangential component to E is continuous across the boundary. In other words, ,
undergoes no change on the boundary and it is said to be continuous across the boundary. Using
we get

Therefore, the tangential component of D is not continuous across the boundary. Hence is
discontinuous across the boundary. Similarly, applying

to the pillbox (Gaussian surface) shown in the figure, as , we get

Which reduces to
Where is the free surface charge density placed deliberately at the boundary. If then

That is the normal component of is continuous across the surface. Since , then

Showing that the normal component of is not continuous across the boundary. We have
derived the boundary conditions; which must be satisfied by an electric field at the boundary
separating two different dielectrics. The boundary conditions can also be used to determine the
"refraction" of the electric field across the interface. Consider the figure below;

From the tangential components of we have

sin sin

And from the normal components of we have

cos cos

Dividing and rearranging we get


sin sin
cos cos

tan
tan

This is the law of refraction of the electric field at a boundary where ; in general, an
interface between two dielectrics produces bending of the flux lines as a result of unequal
polarization charges that accumulate on the sides of the interface.

Conductor-dielectric boundary conditions

Let medium 2 be a perfect conductor, i.e. . This means that . Therefore,


and

Similarly, for normal component of

This means that and . Therefore, the electric field is external to the
conductor and normal to its surface.

Conductor-free space boundary conditions

If medium 1 is free space and medium 2 is a perfect conductor, then

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