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Timothy H. Boyer
Citation: American Journal of Physics 83, 263 (2015); doi: 10.1119/1.4901191
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4901191
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapt/journal/ajp/83/3?ver=pdfcov
Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers
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263
http://aapt.org/ajp
and
Br; t ntret Er; t;
(2)
263
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2
O 1=c3 ;
3
2c jr rj j
jr rj j
(3)
and
Bj r; t ej
3
vj r rj
O 1=c ;
c jr rj j3
(4)
iN
X
i1
ei Uext ri ; t
iN
X
vi
ei Aext ri ; t;
c
i1
(5)
where the last line includes the scalar potential Uext and
vector potential Aext associated with the external electromagnetic fields. The Darwin Lagrangian omits radiation but
expresses accurately the interaction of charged particles
through order 1=c2 . The Darwin Lagrangian continues to
appear in advanced textbooks,8 but the approximate expressions (3) and (4) seem to have disappeared from the consciousness of most contemporary physicists. The Lagrangian
equations of motion from the Darwin Lagrangian can be
rewritten in the form of Newtons second law dp=dt
dmcv=dt F with c 1 v2 =c2 1=2 . In this Newtonian
form, we have
264
"
#
d
mi v i
d
v2i
mi 1 2 v i
2c
dt 1 v2 =c2 1=2
dt
i
vi
ei E ei B
c
X
ei Eext ri ;t
Ej ri ;t
j6i
X
vi
Bj ri ;t ;
ei Bext ri ;t
c
j6i
(6)
with the Lorentz force on the ith particle arising from the
external electromagnetic fields and from the electromagnetic fields of the other particles. The electromagnetic fields
due to the jth particle are given through order v2 =c2 by
exactly the approximate expressions appearing in Eqs. (3)
and (4).
1 dU
;
c dt
(7)
264
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emf ext L
di
iR;
dt
(8)
analysis to follow. The system can be thought of as consisting of charged beads sliding on a frictionless ring. There is
no frictional force and hence no resistance R in the model.
The model is intended as a rough approximation to a circular
loop of wire of small cross section.15
We now imagine that a constant external force per unit
^
charge f ext is applied in a circular pattern in the tangential /
^
direction, f ext /fext , to all the charges of the ring. One
need not specify the source of f ext , but one example would
be an axially symmetric magnetic field applied perpendicular
to the plane of the circular orbit in the ^z direction, increasing in magnitude at a constant rate. The external emf around
the circular orbit is
efext
;
mc3
(11)
(12)
265
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e2 rfext
:
2mc2 c3 R2
(14)
due to the charge e obtained by use of the approximate electric field expression given in Eq. (3). Thus we assume that
the charge e is located momentarily at re x^R cos /e
^
y R sin /e , and we average the electric field Ee r; t due to e
over the phase /e . Since the entire situation is axially symmetric when averaged over /e , we may take the field point
along the x-axis at r x^r, and later generalize to cylindrical
coordinates. The velocity fields given in the first line of
Eq. (3) point from the charge e to the field point. Also, the
velocity fields are even if the sign of the velocity ve is
changed to ve . Thus the velocity fields when averaged over
the circular orbit can point only in the radial direction. The
acceleration fields arising from the centripetal acceleration
of the charge will also point in the radial direction. Since we
are interested in the average tangential component of the
field Ee , we need to average over only the tangential acceleration terms in the second line of Eq. (3). If the field point is
close to the center of the circular orbit so that r R, then
we may expand in powers of r=R; we retain only the firstorder terms, giving j^
x r re j1 R1 1 x^r re =R2 and
3
x r re =R2 . Then the average tanj^
x r re j R3 1 3^
gential component of the electric field due to the charge e
can be written as
"
#+
e
ae/
ae/ x^r re x^r re
hEe/ x^r; ti 2
x r re j
2c j^
j^
x r re j 3
e ae/
ae/ x^r re x^r re
3^
x r re
x^r re
2
1
:
1
R2
R2
R3
2c R
ea/ r
;
2c2 R2
(16)
(15)
the other hand, if we try to increase the induced electromagnetic field Ee/ by making the mass m small, we encounter a
fundamental limit of electromagnetic theory. The allowed
mass m is limited below by considerations involving the
classical radius of the electron rcl e2 =mc2 . Classical
electromagnetic theory is valid only for distances large compared to the classical radius of the electron. Thus in our
example where the radius R of the orbit is a crucial parameter, we must have R rcl . This means we require the mass
m e2 =Rc2 and so e2 =mc2 R 1. Combining this limit
with r=R < 1 and 1 < c leads to a limit on the magnitude of
the induced electric field in Eq. (14)
hEe/ r; ti fext for r < R:
(17)
6. Energy balance
We also note that the power delivered by the external
force per unit charge goes into kinetic energy of the orbiting
particle. Thus if we take the Newtons-second-law equation
giving Eq. (11) and multiply by the speed v of the particle,
we have
Timothy H. Boyer
266
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d
d
mcc2 mc3 a/ v efext v;
mcvv
dt
dt
(18)
so that the power efext v delivered to the charge e by the external force goes into kinetic energy of the particle.
The situation of a one-particle circuit can be summarized as follows. For the one-particle circuit, the induced
electric field is small compared to the external force per
unit charge and depends explicitly upon the particles
mass and charge, while the energy transferred by the
external field goes into kinetic energy of the one charged
particle. Clearly, this is not the situation that we usually
associate with electromagnetic induction for circuit
problems.
jri rj j
jri rj j3
(21)
while
y^ aj/ d2 /=dt2 R cos2pj=N
(22)
and
aj ^
x R rj ^
y ^
x R rj
d2 /=dt2 RR sin2pj=NR sin2pj=N:
(23)
d2 /
dt2
N1 2
d2 / X
e
R cos 2pj=N
efext 2
dt j1 2c2 j2R sin pj=N j
)
R R sin 2pj=N R sin 2pj=N
(24)
consistent with the remaining terms arising from the approximate field expression (3).
Since the particles are equally spaced around the circular
orbit and all have the same charge e and mass m, the situation is axially symmetric. The equation of motion for every
charge takes the same form, and the angular acceleration of
each charge is the same: d2 /i =dt2 d 2 /=dt2 . For simplicity
of calculation, we will take the Nth particle along the x-axis
^ y^. The other particles
so that /N 0; rN x^R, and /
N
are located at rj x^R cos2pj=N y^R sin2pj=N, corresponding to an angle /j 2pj=N for j 1; 2; ; N 1. The
tangential acceleration of the jth particle is given by
aj/ d 2 /=dt2 ^
x R sin2pj=N y^R cos2pj=N.
By
symmetry, it is clear that the electrostatic fields, the velocity
fields, and the centripetal acceleration fields of the other particles cannot contribute to the tangential electric field at particle N. The equation of motion for the tangential
acceleration for each charge in the circular orbit is the same
as that for the Nth particle, which from Eq. (19) is
8
N 1 2
2
X
y^ aj/
d / <
e
mc3 R 2 efext
2 j^
2c
x
R rj j
dt
:
j1
#)
aj/ x^R rj y^ x^R rj
:
(20)
j^
x R rj j3
8
"
#91
N1 2
=
<
2
X
d2 /
e
2
3
sin
pj=N
3
ef
mc
R
:
ext
;
:
2c2
dt2
2 sin pj=N
j1
(25)
Timothy H. Boyer
267
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rate of change of a particles kinetic energy equals the difference between the power delivered to the particle by the
external force and the power absorbed from the particle as
magnetic field energy. Since the acceleration of the particle
is very small, the rate of change of the particle kinetic energy
is very small and most of the energy delivered by the external force goes into magnetic field energy. If one neglects the
very small amount of energy going into particle kinetic
energy, then one simply states that the energy delivered by
the external force goes into magnetic field energy. This last
statement is the approximation that appears in the textbooks
of electromagnetism.
In nonrelativistic classical mechanics (which underlies the
intuition of most physicists), we can store potential energy of
relative position but there is no such thing as potential
energy of velocity. In classical mechanics, the energy associated with velocity is always mechanical kinetic energy, mass
times velocity squared. In complete contrast to this situation,
electromagnetic theory contains magnetic energy associated
with the velocities of charges and yet not associated with
particle mass. For consistency, electromagnetic theory
requires that accelerating charges cause fields that produce
forces on other charges. The mutual interaction of the
charges through the Faraday induction fields assures that the
magnetic energy stored indeed requires work by some external forces. For a multiparticle system, the resultant force on
each particle may become tiny compared to the external
force on each charge, because of the acceleration fields due
to the other charges. The charges have a tiny acceleration
and gain a tiny amount of kinetic energy while the work
done by the external force goes into the large amount of
energy stored in the magnetic field.
j6i
N 1
2p R X
2pREe R
2 3 sin2 pj=N
:
(29)
We see that the self-inductance of this multiparticle,
circular-orbit circuit is now independent of the mass m and
of the charge e of the current carriers.18 As with all expressions for the self-inductance L of a circuit, Eq. (29) has
dimensions of length divided by c2 . In the appendix, the selfinductance L in Eq. (29) for our hypothetical circuit is
Timothy H. Boyer
268
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N
X
i1
mi c2 ci 1
1
d3 r B2 :
8p
(30)
N X
1X
1
d 3 r 2Bei r Bej r
2 i1 j6i 8p
"
#
N X 2
vi ri rj vj ri rj
vi vj
1X
e
N
; (31)
2c2 j^
x R rj j
j^
x R rj j3
j1
DUmag
j2sin pj=N j3
8
"
#9
2
2 N1
1 <2p R X
2 3sin2 pj=N = eN d/
:
; 2p dt
2 : 2c2 N j1
2sin pj=N
(32)
We recognize the current i eNd/=dt=2p and so
can read off the self-inductance of the circuit from DUmag
1=2Li2 in Eq. (32). The expression for the self-inductance
L is the same as in Eq. (29). Again for an interacting multiparticle system, the mechanical kinetic energy increases
linearly with the number of particles N while the magnetic
energy increases as N 2 . In this multiparticle limit, the power
Pi efext vi delivered to the ith charge by the external force
per unit charge f ext associated with the original external emf
269
269
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Dr. Hanno Essen for sending
copies of the work of C. G. Darwin and of his own work, listed
now in Refs. 3 and 4. The author had been unaware of these
contributions. Also, the author wishes to thank a referee for
many helpful comments on earlier versions of this article,
which directed attention toward needed clarifications.
f a=2 f b =2 ;
(A1)
we have
"
#
N1
X
2 3 sin2 pj=N
j1
2 sin pj=N
pp=N
"
2 3 sin2 x
dx
2 sin x
p=N
"
#
1 2 3 sin2 p=N
2
2 sinp=N
"
#
1 2 3 sin2 p p=N
:
2
2 sinp p=N
(A2)
The
integral can be evaluated analytically using
dx= sin x 1=2ln1 cos x ln1 cos x. Then noting sinp p=N sin p=N and cosp p=N cos p=N,
and expanding in powers of 1=N, the sum on the first line of
Eq. (A2) becomes
"
#
N 1
X
2 3 sin2 pj=N
2 sin pj=N
j1
N 1 1 cosp p=N 1 cosp=N
ln
2
2 sinp=N
2
2 sinp p=N
(
)
N
1 cosp=N
p
3 cos
ln
p
1 cosp=N
N
"
#
2 3 sin2 p=N
2 sinp=N
N
2N
2N
2ln
O1=N :
(A3)
p
p
p
270
270
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Leighton, and M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics (AddisonWesley, Reading, MA, 1964), Vol. II, pp. 17-5 and 27-6. See also Ref. 1,
pp. 359361. In the present article, we evaluate the induced electromagnetic field arising from the accelerating disk charges by use of the approximate electric field expression (3).
18
A continuous circular wire of nonzero cross section provides the analogue
within traditional electromagnetism texts of our hypothetical circuit. Our
hypothetical circuit is not continuous but rather involves a finite number N
of charges with spaces between the charges. It seems interesting that for
our discrete circular charge arrangement, the typical multiparticle behavior
requires at least four charges. The summation in Eq. (29) is steadily
increasing with increasing particle number N. However, the summation
starts out negative 0:5 for N 2, and is still negative 0:289 for
271
Timothy H. Boyer
271
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