Chapter 29-Electric field and potential

ELECTROSTATICS – A subject that is a bit complex to imagine in typical textbooks.  Not to worry, we give yuo amazing pictures to understand and remember, with explanations having 3D animation and 3D images . You start with an image and animation to ‘see’ electric charges, electric field , go through solved problems at the end of this chapter, then come back to theory.

Imagination has no limits. I created this surreal scene to show you Electric Field Lines, or Lines of Force . We have come away from earth and a long way into a desolate planet in a distant galaxy, where Intelligent Creatures learn physics concepts. The fundamentals of physics hold even there, and basic Laws will not be different on another planet.

The arrows correspond to an Electric Field, these lines  or “arrows” are coming out from a positively charged plate. On the right side is a sphere hanging by a thread, oriented at an angle, the weight of the sphere balanced by the Force of the Electric Field.

Just like in Gravitation, wherever there is a kind of force, there will be energy, similarly electric Potential Energy is also necessary to understand.

Following topics are covered:

1) What is Electric Charge?

2) The Earth’s electric charge, and Lightning

3) Coulomb’s Law

4) Electric Field , how we imagine it

a)  Finding Electric field at the corner of a Square having charges placed at the other 3 corners

b) Force due to Electric Field able to balance a mass hung from a string (like a pendulum)

5) Electric Potential

6) Electric Potential due to a Point Charge

7) Relation between electric field and electric potential

8) Solved Problems (HC Verma) – explained in more detail