MAGNETIC FIELDS OF SPINNING DISK AND SPHERE

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Reference: Griffiths, David J. (2007) Introduction to Electrodynamics,
3rd Edition; Prentice Hall - Problem 5.47.
Another application of the magnetic field due to a circular current loop
of radius R and current I a distance z above the centre of the loop (as given
by Griffiths example 5.6):

µ0 IR2 1
B= (1)
2 [R2 + z 2 ]3/2
We start with a spinning disk with surface charge density σ. We can treat
this as a collection of concentric current loops, with the current at radius r
given by

dI (r) = σrωdr (2)

where ω is the angular velocity. The field of the spinning disk is then
ˆ R
µ0 σω r3
B (z) = 3/2
dr (3)
2 (r2 + z 2 )
0

µ0 σω 2z 2 + R2
 
= √ − 2z (4)
2 R2 + z 2
Now we can work out the field due to a spinning solid sphere of charge
density ρ as a collection of spinning disks. We fix our observation point
z, and place the origin at the centre of the sphere. A given disk within the
sphere has a radius given by R sin θ for a particular value of θ. The distance
of this disk from the observation point is z − R cos θ and the charge density
in the disk is ρRdθ. It might seem that the way to proceed is to replace
σ → ρRdθ R → R sin θ and z → z − R cos θ in the formula for the spinning
disk and then integrate over θ from 0 to π. That is, we try:

ˆ
 
π 2 2
µ0 ρRω 2 (z − R cos θ) + (R sin θ)
B (z) = q − 2 (z − R cos θ) dθ
2 0 2 2
(R sin θ) + (z − R cos θ)
(5)
1
 MAGNETIC FIELDS OF SPINNING DISK AND SPHERE 2

Even after multiplying out the various squares and trying to simplify this
expression, plugging it into software gives a complex sum of elliptic func-
tions. It turns out that a better approach is to use an integral over the z
coordinate of the disks. Let ζ be the z coordinate of a given disk. Then
the distancepfrom the disk to the observation point is z − ζ, the radius of
the disk is R2 − ζ 2 and the charge density is ρdζ. Now the appropriate
substitutions
p into the formula for the disk’s magnetic field are z → z − ζ,
R → R − ζ 2 and σ → ρdζ, and the integral is over ζ between −R and
2
R:

ˆ
 
R 2
µ0 ρω 2 (z − ζ) + R2 − ζ 2
B (z) = q − 2 (z − ζ) dζ (6)
2 −R 2 2 2
R − ζ + (z − ζ)
ˆ " #
µ0 ρω R 2z 2 + R2 − 4zζ + ζ 2
= p − 2 (z − ζ) dζ (7)
2 −R R2 + z 2 − 2zζ
2 µ0 ρωR5
= (8)
15 z 3
Software was used for the integral, but the first term in the integrand can
be split into 3 (one for each term in the numerator) and either integrated
directly or by parts, so it’s not too hard even by hand. Note that we’ve
assumed that z > R. If we take 0 ≤ z ≤ R then we get contributions to
the field from two different regions: 0 ≤ ζ ≤ z and z ≤ ζ ≤ R. The field
B1 from the inner region can be obtained from 7 by setting R = z and
integrating from −z to z

ˆ z
" #
µ0 ρω 3z 2 − 4zζ + ζ 2
B1 = p − 2 (z − ζ) dζ (9)
2 −z 2z 2 − 2zζ
2
= µ0 ρωz 2 (10)
15
Each spherical shell of radius ζ in the outer region contributes a uniform
field of magnitude (as worked out in Griffiths’s example 5.11):

2
Bshell = µ0 σωζ (11)
3

ere σ is the surface charge density on the shell. A shell from our solid
sphere of charge has a charge density of σ = ρ dζ so the field due to the
outer region is
 MAGNETIC FIELDS OF SPINNING DISK AND SPHERE 3

ˆ R
2
B2 = µ0 ρω ζ dζ (12)
3 z
1
µ0 ρω R2 − z 2


= (13)
3
The total field for z < R is then

Bz<R = B1 + B2 (14)
2 1
µ0 ρωz 2 + µ0 ρω R2 − z 2


= (15)
15 3
 2
z2

R
= µ0 ρω − (16)
3 5
This agrees with our earlier calculation of the field inside a rotating sphere
    
µ0 ωρ 2 3 2 6 2 2
B= R0 − r cos θr̂ + r − R0 sin θθ̂ (17)
3 5 5
To get the field along the z axis, we set θ = 0 and r = z, so we get the
same formula.