Electrodynamics/Electrostatic Stress Tensor

From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Force on a Charge[edit | edit source]

When we want to discuss the force on a charge due to a charge distribution, there are two options. The first is a more traditional method: an integral over a volume containing the charge distribution. The second method is less traditional but is easier to do: a surface integral over a special stress tensor.

Volume Integral Version[edit | edit source]

Electrostatic Stress Tensor[edit | edit source]

Surface Integral Version[edit | edit source]

The Maxwell Stress Tensor[edit | edit source]

Tij is called the Maxwell Stress Tensor, it has two indices and is not a vector so is given a double arrow.