Welcome to PYL100 course

Lecture-3 on 07/01/2015
By: Rajendra S. Dhaka
(rsdhaka@physics.iitd.ac.in)

PYL100:
Electromagnetic Waves and
Quantum Mechanics
Ch.4: Electric Fields in Matter
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Ch.4: Electric Fields in Matter

Matter comes in many forms:

These respond differently to an applied E-field
Classes (broadly) of Matter:
1) Conductors: contains an unlimited supply of
charges that are free to move about through
the material
2) Insulators (Dielectrics): All charges are
attached to a specific atom/molecule, not free
to roam, can move small distances within the
confines of an atom/molecule
2

Q. What happens when we put an object into an

external electric field?
Take an example of metal:
Net E = 0

Q. What about dielectric materials where the charge is

not free to move?
All dielectrics are insulators.

No macroscopic migration of charges,but

microscopic displacements occurs
Their cumulative effects account for the
characteristic behavior of dielectric materials.
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Dielectrics / atom in an electric field?

When an atom is placed in an electric field..

Nucleus is pushed in the direction of the field
Electron cloud is attracted toward the field
If the E-field is strong enough it will ionize
the atom (hence forming ions and it becomes
a conductor)

Dielectrics / atom in an electric field?

In the Limit of low magnitude E-field:

Equilibrium is reached between the
displacement induced by the E-field and
Coulombic attraction of nucleus & electrons

Induced dipole moment

The net effect is that each atom becomes a small
charge dipole which affects the total electric
field both inside and outside the material.
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Dielectrics in an electric field?

Electric fields can distort the charge

distribution of a dielectric atom or molecule:
stretching and rotating.
Materials where the polarization is important,
such as the insulating material in a Capacitor.
Inserting a layer of non-metallic solid
between/across the plates of a capacitor
increases its capacitance.
Material placed across the plates of capacitor
like non-conducting bridge is a dielectric.
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Dielectrics / atom in an electric field?

Atomic polarizability is proportional to the

volume of the atom
Its value depends on the detailed structure of
the atom..
Self-study
Dipole
Electric field lines of dipole
Dipole moment
Electric Dipole Field
can be constructed as a vector sum
of the point charge fields of the two charges.
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Polarizability of Molecules:

Polarizability is a measure of the ability of a

material to become polarized in the presence
of an applied electric field.
For molecules the situation is not quite so
simple, because frequently they polarize
more readily in some directions than others.
Polarization occurs in both polar and
nonpolar materials. (displace, stretching,
rotation (only in polar molecules), etc.)
For molecules, the polarizability is a function
of direction of the electric field.
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 And, different along the molecules axis and

perpendicular to it.
A dielectric is said to be polarized when
induced electric dipoles are present.
Presence of induced electric dipoles within
the dielectric causes the electric field both
inside and outside the material to be modified
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Molecules in electric field:

Non-polar molecules (CO2)

! = Polarizability when the field is along the axis.

= Polarizability when the field is to the axis.

< !
In general:

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Molecules in electric field:

Polar molecules (example: water)

What happens when polar
molecules are place in an
electric field?

if the field is uniform:

Force on positive end,
!
!
F+ = qE

Force on negative
!
! end,
F = qE

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Polar molecules in electric field:

Two forces exactly cancels, however, there

will be a torque
!
!
!
!
!
! !
! !
d
d
N = ( r+ F+ ) + ( r F ) = ( qE) + ( (qE))
!
2
2

! ! ! !
!
d
= 2( qE) = qd E = p E
2

!
Thus dipoles in a uniform field E experience
!
a torque N
Polar molecules in non-uniform electric field:
v There will a net force on the dipole


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Polarization (P):
Polarization = dipole moment per unit volume

=
N dipoles per unit volume.
Thus, polarization is a property which is true
as an average over volumes much larger than
the atomic size.
Next
class

Effect of uniform Polarization: Bound charges

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