The Electric Lines Of Force At Any Point On The Equipotential Surface

You will find its definition along with important properties and solved problems here.

The electric lines of force at any point on the equipotential surface.

Equipotential surface is one of the main topics in electrostatics. In electrostatics line of force is same as electric field lines. For any charge configuration equipotential surface through a point is normal to the electric field. Thus the force acting on the point charge is perpendicular to the equipotential surface.

For example in figure pageindex 1 a charged spherical conductor can replace the point charge and the electric field and potential surfaces outside of it will be unchanged confirming the contention that a spherical charge distribution is equivalent to a point charge at its center. Comparison of electric and magnetic lines of force. Equipotential or isopotential in mathematics and physics refers to a region in space where every point in it is at the same potential. Equipotential lines are always perpendicular to the electric field no work is required in moving a test charge along the equipotential lines as there is no change of potential.

Any surface with the same electric potential at every point is known as an equipotential surface. Thus for any charge configuration equipotential surface through a point is normal to the electric field. Electric lines of force never form closed loops while magnetic lines of force are always closed loops. Visit us to know more about equipotential surface and their properties.

They always emerge or terminate normally on the surface of a charged conductor while magnetic lines of force start or terminate on the surface of a magnetic material at any angle. For example in figure 1 a charged spherical conductor can replace the point charge and the electric field and potential surfaces outside of it will be unchanged confirming the contention that a spherical charge distribution is equivalent to a point charge at its center. Because a conductor is an equipotential it can replace any equipotential surface. And electric potential changes as you move along the field lines.

We know that the lines of force or the electric field lines indicate the direction of electric force on a charge. Therefore equipotential surfaces are perpendicular to electric lines of force.