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Florida Atlantic University PHY 2049L Experiment 1

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Purpose: Map electric equipotential lines and electric field lines for two dimensional charge configurations Theory:  The magnitude of electrostatic force between two point charges can be determ... ined using Coulomb’s law: F=k|q1 q2| r 2 where r is the distance between charges and k is the Coulomb’s constant (k=9.0x109 Nm2/C2).  The directions of the forces the two charges exert each other are always along the line joining the two point charges and like charges repel and unlike charges repel.  The magnitude electric field is defined as the electrical force per unit charge, i.e., E=F/q(N/C), here q is a test point charge.  In the case of the electric field associated with a single source charge Q, the magnitude of the electric field a distance r away from the source charge is the following equation: E= F q =k|q| r 2 .  Electric field is a vector quantity which is specified by both its magnitude and direction  The electric field of a point charge always points away from a positive charge but towards a negative charge.  Figure 1 (a) shows the electric field vectors from a positive source charge. By drawing lines through the points in the direction of the field vectors, we form the electric field lines (Fig. 1b and c), which give a graphical representation of the electric field.  It can be shown that the electric potential at a distance r form the source charge Q is V=k q r .  The electric potential is a scalar quantity, which is specified by its magnitude only.  Electric potential can be either positive or negative depends on the sign of the source charge Q  The electrical potential of two or more point charges is simply the algebraic sum of the potentials due to each point charge separately V=k∑ i=1 N Qi r i where N is the total number of point charges.  Since a free charge is an electric field by the action of the electric force, we say that work is done by the field on moving a charge from one point to another.  To move a positive charge from B to A would require work supplied by an external force to move the charge against the electric field. [Show More]

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