Wednesday, October 31, 2018

homework and exercises - Understanding the integral for the electric dipole moment of a charge distribution


In problem 3.35 of Griffiths' Introduction to electrodynamics, he states:




A solid sphere, radius R, is centered at the origin. The “northern” hemisphere carries a uniform charge density ρ0, and the “southern” hemisphere a uniform charge density ρ0. Find the approximate field E(r,θ) for points far from the sphere (r \gg R).



The dipole moment is by definition


\textbf{p}=\iiint \textbf{r}'\rho(\textbf{r}') \;\mathrm{dV}


But Griffiths uses z=r'\cos \theta and says


\textbf{p}=\iiint \textbf{z}\rho(\textbf{r}') \;\mathrm{dV}


How does this work? Aren't you supposed to use r' in the integral?


In my calculations I get


\textbf{p}= \iiint_\text{northern hemisphere} \textbf{r}'\rho_0 \;\mathrm{dV} -\iiint_\text{southern hemisphere} \textbf{r}'\rho_0\;\mathrm{dV}


which gives \textbf{p}=0



when evaluated, which is wrong. Where have I setup my integral wrong?




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