What is the component of electric field along the surface of a conductor? When t

Question

What is the component of electric field along the surface of a conductor?

When the equipotential lines bend, what happens to the electric field lines?

Comment on the equipotential lines and the electric field between the two parallel bars. If the bars were infinitely long, what would you expect the electric field between them to look like?

Comment on the equipotentials and field lines for two circular shapes or a circular shape and a bar. How does the symmetry of the configuration show up in the equipotentials and fields?

Explanation / Answer

1)In a static situation, the electric field at the surface of a conductor can have no component parallel to the surface, because this would violate the condition that the charges on the surface are at rest.

2)Equipotential lines may be straight, curved, or irregularly shaped, depending on the orientation of charges that give rise to them. Since they are located radially around a charged body, they are perpendicular to electric field lines, which extend radially from the center of a charged body.

3)Electric Field lines and theequipotential lines look like for two oppositely charged parallel plates. Field lines are evenly spaced (except at the very ends). This implies that the electric field strength is the same anywhere between the plates

E=V/d

According to the field intensity formula, the smaller you make the distance between the plates, the stronger the electric field becomes if the potential difference is held constant

4)For a single, isolated point charge, the formula for potential is functionally dependent upon charge and inversely dependent upon radial distance from the chargeThe radial dependence means that at any point a certain distance from the point charge, potential will be the same. Therefore, equipotential lines for a single point charge are circular, with the point charge at the center

When multiple, discrete charges interact, their fields overlap. The combining of fields also results in a combining of potential, which results in the skewing of equipotential lines in areas that are close enough to both charges to "feel" the effects of both fields

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