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Chapter 16 Electric fields

 

Electric charge was mentioned in the previous chapter as being ‘that which flows’ in an electric current.  Nevertheless, none of the discussion in that chapter strictly requires a knowledge of electric charge; indeed were it not for the SI definition of the ampere, there would have been no need to refer to charge at all in Chapter 15.  In this chapter, by contrast, the properties of electric charges at rest are studied in some detail.  It is shown that the fundamental law governing force between charges can be described, equivalently, by Coulomb’s law or Gauss’ law.  Force fields surrounding various static configurations of charges are discussed and analysed. For this purpose physical quantities like electric field strength, electric potential and equipotential surfaces are introduced.  Finally, the acceleration of charged particles is treated briefly.

 

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Chapter 16 problems

 

Answers to Chapter 16 problems

Understanding Physics

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