A. F.

Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves Fields & Waves Note #1 Vector Algebra

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Objectives: Review vectors, dot products, cross products, related calculations, and basic notation in Cartesian coordinates. In our study of electromagnetic fields, various quantities will be described in threedimensional space. Our reference frame will be a right-handed Cartesian coordinate system (Figure 1). The system is deemed right-handed by virtue of the ordering (x-axis before y-axis before z-axis) and the fact that if the x-axis is rotated toward the y-axis according to the spiral of a right-handed screw, the screw moves in the z-direction. In this three-dimensional world, we will work with scalar and vector quantities. Scalar entities have a number or size associated with them, while vector quantities have a size and a direction. With vector quantities, the size is usually associated with the length or magnitude of the vector. For example, A = 3x and +y - 4z B = 3x are vector quantities. The first denotes a vector of length 3 oriented parallel to the x-axis. The second denotes a vector skewed with respect to the three principal axes, with a length of 3 along the x direction, 1 along the y direction, and 4 along the z direction. The quantities 3, 1, and 4 are the components of the vector.

Vector Addition There are a number of ways in which vector quantities can be manipulated. operations such as addition or subtraction are well known, as illustrated by +y + 2z 3x -y - 6z + 3x + (1 - 1) y + (2 - 6) z ( 3 + 3) x - 4z = 6x To add two vectors, one simply adds the coefficients of the various components. Subtraction works in a similar manner. Simple

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves

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For convenience, we will denote general vector quantities by a letter with a bar over the top: +y + 2z A = 3x Vectors that have a length equal to one are denoted using a carat or hat over the top: , y , z x These unit vectors are the principal axes of the coordinate system. Other unit vectors will be introduced below. Multiplication of scalars with vectors Besides addition and subtraction, vectors can be multiplied with scalars or with other vectors. Suppose +y + 2z A = 3x If we multiply this vector with the scalar 6, we obtain + (6 1) y + (6 2) z 6 A = (6 3) x + 6y + 12 z = 18 x Multiplication with a scalar stretches or shrinks the length of a vector, but does not change its direction. Vector multiplication: dot product There are two different ways that vectors can be multiplied with other vectors. The first we consider is the dot product. Consider the two vectors - 4y A = 3x + 2y +z B = 4x To perform a dot product, we distribute the multiplication term-by-term and apply the following rules: (1) (2) The dot product of a principal unit vector with itself is one. The dot product of two principal unit vectors that are perpendicular is zero.

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves

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In other words, x = 1, y y = 1, etc. x y = 0, x z = 0, etc. x Using these rules, we construct - 4y ) (4 x + 2y +z ) A B = (3x 4x ) + (-4 y 2y ) + (0 z 1z ) = (3x = 12 - 8 + 0 =4 We observe that the dot product of two vectors is a scalar quantity. For this reason, the dot product is also called the scalar product. Vector magnitude We are now in a position to define the length or magnitude of a vector. The magnitude is given by A = For example, consider +y + 2z A = 3x The magnitude is obtained as +y + 2z ) (3x +y + 2z ) A = (3x = ( 3 3) + (1 1) + (2 2) = 14 We note that in the more general situation where the vector might have complex-valued coefficients, the magnitude is given by A = A A* AA

where the asterisk denotes the complex conjugate.

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves Unit vectors A unit vector in the same direction as a given vector A can be obtained using = u As an example, consider + 4y - 2z A = 3x A unit vector is obtained by constructing the magnitude A = 3 3 + 4 4 + (-2) (-2) = 29 and then the quotient = u = + 4y - 2z A 3x = 29 A 3 4 2 + x y z 29 29 29 A A

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, although it is more common to use lower-case (We could also denote this unit vector A letters to represent unit vectors.) Physical meaning of the dot product In many situations, it is necessary to work with the component of a given vector along some other direction. As an example, such an operation occurs when we convert a vector from one coordinate system into another (see Fields & Waves Note #2). This type of operation involves the dot product. Figure 2 shows two vectors separated by an angle q. Although it may not be obvious, their dot product can be expressed in the form A B = A B cosq Suppose we want to know the component of A in the direction of B (Figure 3). In other words, we want to find the length of the horizontal side of the triangle in Figure 3. From basic trigonometry, we observe that the result is the length of the hypotenuse times the cosine of the angle q

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves

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A cosq This is the same as = A cosq AB is the unit vector where B = B B B . Dot products arise Therefore, the component of A in the direction of B is A B whenever projections of vectors are required. Because of the cosq term in the preceding expression for the dot product, it is apparent that the dot product of two perpendicular vectors is zero. Therefore, an easy way of testing to see if two vectors are perpendicular is to construct their dot product. Vector multiplication: cross product A second way of multiplying vectors with vectors is known as the cross product. We illustrate the cross product by example. Consider two vectors - 2y - 4z A = 3x +y - 6z B = 5x In Cartesian coordinates, the cross product of A and B can be obtained by evaluating the 3 3 determinant y x z A B = 3 -2 -4 5 1 -6 = {(-2)(-6) - (1)(-4 )} x + {(-4 )(5) - (-6)( 3)} y + {( 3)(1) - (5)(-2)}z - 2y + 13z = 16 x

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves

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, y , and z , while the The first row of the determinant contains the principal unit vectors x second row contains the components of A . The third row contains the components of B . The cross product of two vectors is itself a vector quantity. For this reason, the cross product is also known as the vector product. It can be shown that the vector A B is perpendicular to both A and B . Physical meaning of the cross product Consider two vectors as shown in Figure 4. The cross product of these vectors can be written in the form A B = A B sin q u is a unit vector perpendicular to the plane where q is the angle between the vectors and u containing A and B , oriented in the direction that a right-handed screw would point in if points into the page. twisted from A toward B . In Figure 4, u Figure 5 shows a parallelogram constructed from the vectors A and B . Since the height of the parallelogram (trigonometry again!) is A sin q it should be apparent that the magnitude of the cross product of A and B is the area of the parallelogram: Area = A B sin q This property will be used shortly (Fields & Waves Note #3) to define the differential area associated with two differential length vectors on a surface. Since the preceding expression for the cross product is proportional to sinq, we observe that the cross product of two parallel vectors is zero. This provides a means for testing if two vectors are parallel (although we might also be able to tell just by inspection).

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves Source and observer coordinates

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In many electromagnetic field problems, we have to simultaneously deal with the coordinates of a source and the coordinates of an observer. To avoid confusion, we generally use primed coordinates (x, y, z) to describe the source location and unprimed coordinates (x, y, z) to describe the observer location (Figure 6). A vector may be drawn from the origin to the source location: + y y + z z r = x x Similarly, a second vector may be drawn from the origin to the observer location: +yy +zz r= xx Often, we are more interested in the vector drawn directly from (x, y, z) to (x, y, z), as depicted in Figure 6: R = r - r + ( y - y ) y + ( z - z ) z = ( x - x ) x This expression is convenient whenever we need a vector connecting two points in Cartesian coordinates. Example: Three points are given in Cartesian coordinates as (1, 1, 1), (2, 3, 4), and (3, 5, 2). These points define a plane. Find a unit vector perpendicular to the plane. Define a vector drawn from point 1 to point 2 as follows: + ( 3 - 1) y + ( 4 - 1) z A = (2 - 1) x +2 y +3z = x Define a second vector from point 1 to point 3: + (-5 - 1) y + (2 - 1) z B = ( 3 - 1) x -6 y + z = 2x These two vectors lie in the plane of the points. A perpendicular vector to these two is obtained by constructing the cross product

Solution:

A. F. Peterson: Notes on Electromagnetic Fields & Waves y z x AB = 1 2 3 2 -6 1 = {(2)(1) - (-6)( 3)} x + {( 3)(2) - (1)(1)} y + {(1)(-6) - (2)(2)}z + 5y - 10 z = 20 x To convert this to a unit vector, we find its magnitude + 5y - 10 z ) (20 x + 5y - 10 z ) A B = (20 x = 400 + 25 + 100 = 525 and obtain the result = u 20 5 10 + x y z 525 525 525

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is actually We may check our work by testing to see whether u perpendicular to A and B , by constructing dot products. For instance, = (1) Au 5 20 -10 + (2) + ( 3) 525 525 525 20 + 10 - 30 = =0 525

Since the dot product is zero, the vectors are perpendicular.