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

We know that the lines of force or the electric field lines indicate the direction of electric force on a charge.

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

Because a conductor is an equipotential it can replace any equipotential surface. Because a conductor is an equipotential it can replace any equipotential surface. You will find its definition along with important properties and solved problems here. Equipotential or isopotential in mathematics and physics refers to a region in space where every point in it is at the same potential.

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. Thus the force acting on the point charge is perpendicular to the equipotential surface. This usually refers to a scalar potential in that case it is a level set of the potential although it can also be applied to vector potentials an equipotential of a scalar potential function in n dimensional space is typically an n 1 dimensional space. 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. In electrostatics line of force is same as electric field lines. Electric lines of force never form closed loops while magnetic lines of force are always closed loops. And electric potential changes as you move along the field lines.

Any surface with the same electric potential at every point is known as an equipotential surface. Equipotential surface is one of the main topics in electrostatics. For any charge configuration equipotential surface through a point is normal to the electric field. All points on an equipotential surface have the same electric potential.

Thus for any charge configuration equipotential surface through a point is normal to the electric field. 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.