Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 1.djvu/403

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310.]
SURFACE-CONDITIONS.
361

functions of the derivatives of the forms of which are given in the equations


(3)


where are the derivatives of with respect to respectively.

Let us take the case of the surface which separates a medium having these coefficients of conduction from an isotropic medium having a coefficient of conduction equal to

Let be the values of in the isotropic medium, then we have at the surface


(4)
or (5)
when (6)


This condition gives


(7)


where is the surface-density.

We have also in the isotropic medium


(8)


and at the boundary the condition of flow is


(9)

or

(10)


whence


(11)


The quantity represents the surface-density of the charge on the surface of separation. In crystallized and organized substances it depends on the direction of the surface as well as on the force perpendicular to it. In isotropic substances the coefficients and are zero, and the coefficients are all equal, so that


(12)


where is the conductivity of the substance, that of the external medium, and the direction-cosines of the normal drawn towards the medium whose conductivity is .

When both media are isotropic the conditions may be greatly