How Do You Calculate Electric Field Components for a Uniformly Charged Rod?

[jason177]

Homework Statement

Positive charge Q is distributed uniformly along the positive y-axis between y = 0 and y = a.
Calculate the x- and y-components of the electric field produced by the charge distribution Q at points on the positive x-axis.

The Attempt at a Solution

I tried integrating but I am unsure of what i should be integrating with respect to what, so i don't necessarily need the answers but if someone could point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.

 

[CompuChip]

Let's first look at a somewhat simpler situation.
Suppose you have a point charge Q/2 at (0, 0), and a point charge Q/2 at (0, a).
Can you calculate (both components of) the electric field at (x, 0) when x > 0?

Once you solved that, can you do it for n point charges of magnitude Q/n, at positions (0, 0), (0, a/n), (0, 2a/n), ... (0, a) ?

 

[jason177]

Alright i got it, thank you very much