Analog to Biot-Savart for E field

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around finding an analog to the Biot-Savart law for the electric field (E field) as presented in Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics." Participants explore theoretical approaches, mathematical formulations, and references related to this topic.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant requests references or hints for proving the analog to the Biot-Savart law for the E field as stated in Griffiths' text.
  • Another participant suggests using Gauss's law and identities involving vector calculus to derive an expression for the E field, although they express uncertainty about the integration process.
  • A different participant notes that the equation in question appears in the 3rd edition of Griffiths' book as part of a problem, suggesting that the analogy between Faraday's Law and Ampère's law could be useful for deriving the E field equation.
  • One participant expresses gratitude for the helpful responses received, indicating a collaborative atmosphere.
  • A repeated mathematical formulation is presented, reiterating the use of Maxwell's equations and vector identities to derive the E field expression, with a caution that the derived equation may yield zero due to the nature of induced electric fields having zero curl.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the validity of the proposed equations or the methods for deriving them. There are multiple competing views and approaches discussed without resolution.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty regarding the integration steps and the assumptions involved in the derivations. The discussion highlights dependencies on definitions and the need for further exploration of Maxwell's equations in this context.

scoomer
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On page 317 of "INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRODYNAMICS" 4th Ed. by Griffiths he states without proof that the analog to Biot-Savart for finding the E field is:

Electromagnetic Induction.JPG


Can anyone direct me to a reference where this is proved or give me a hint how to prove it? Thank you.
 

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Hope it can help you :wink:
IMG_20180527_105150.jpg
 

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##\nabla \cdot E=\frac{1}{\epsilon}\rho##
Gauss's law ##E=\frac{1}{4\pi\epsilon}\int \frac{(\nabla \cdot E) \hat r}{r^2} d \tau##
Use the identity ##A \times (B \times C) = B (A \cdot C)-C(A\cdot B)## where ##A=\nabla##, and possibly integrate by parts, I am not sure,
You get an an integral like ##\frac{1}{4\pi}\int \frac{(\nabla \times E) \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##.
Use Maxwell's equation ##\nabla \times E = -\frac {\partial B}{\partial t}##.
This gives you ##E=-\frac {1}{4\pi} \int \frac {(\frac {\partial B}{\partial t}) \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##
Since you are integrating over space and not time, we can move the partial derivative out of the integral, getting
##E=-\frac {1}{4\pi} \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \int \frac { B \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##
I hope this helps.
 
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scoomer said:
On page 317 of "INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRODYNAMICS" 4th Ed. by Griffiths
I don't have the 4th edition. In the 3rd edition, your equation appears as part of Problem 7.47:
Use the analogy between Faraday's Law and Ampère's law, together with the Biot-Savart law, to show that <<your equation>> for Faraday-induced electric fields.
So if you assume the validity of Biot-Savart, you can start from there and use the similarity between Faraday and Ampère to suss out the analogous equation for ##\vec E##. Or you can look for a derivation of Biot-Savart from Maxwell's equations, and then adapt that to work for ##\vec E## instead of ##\vec B##, again using the similarities between the various Maxwell equations.
 
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Thanks to Nguyen Son, Gene Naden and jtbell. Your responses are very helpful and much appreciated.
 
Gene Naden said:
##\nabla \cdot E=\frac{1}{\epsilon}\rho##
Gauss's law ##E=\frac{1}{4\pi\epsilon}\int \frac{(\nabla \cdot E) \hat r}{r^2} d \tau##
Use the identity ##A \times (B \times C) = B (A \cdot C)-C(A\cdot B)## where ##A=\nabla##, and possibly integrate by parts, I am not sure,
You get an an integral like ##\frac{1}{4\pi}\int \frac{(\nabla \times E) \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##.
Use Maxwell's equation ##\nabla \times E = -\frac {\partial B}{\partial t}##.
This gives you ##E=-\frac {1}{4\pi} \int \frac {(\frac {\partial B}{\partial t}) \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##
Since you are integrating over space and not time, we can move the partial derivative out of the integral, getting
##E=-\frac {1}{4\pi} \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \int \frac { B \times \hat r}{r^2} d\tau##
I hope this helps.
I think so ##E=\frac{1}{4\pi\epsilon}\int \frac{(\nabla \cdot E) \hat r}{r^2} d \tau##

Reference: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/analog-to-biot-savart-for-e-field.948269/ equation will give you 0 as induced electric fields have 0 curl so this eq is not valid here
 

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