What is the relationship between an equipotential surface and the electric field vectors?
Section Summary. An equipotential line is a line along which the electric potential is constant. An equipotential surface is a three-dimensional version of equipotential lines. Equipotential lines are always perpendicular to electric field lines.
How electric field is related to equipotential surface?
The electric field is always perpendicular to an equipotential surface. Two equipotential surfaces can never intersect. For a point charge, the equipotential surfaces are concentric spherical shells.
What is the electric field between two equipotential lines?
Electric field lines are perpendicular to the equipotential lines, and point “downhill”. A conductor forms an equipotential surface. When lines are close to each other, the electric field is strong.
What are the electric potentials of two points on the same equipotential line?
Potential difference between any two points that are on a given equipotential line is zero, whereas for two points on the same field line the potential gradient is maximum.
Why electric field is normal to the equipotential surface?
Since the electric field lines are directed radially away from the charge, hence they are opposite to the equipotential lines. Therefore, the electric field is perpendicular to the equipotential surface.
Why electric field is normal to equipotential surface?
What is the angle between the electric field and equipotential surface?
The angle between the electric field and the equipotential surface is always 900. The equipotential surface is always perpendicular to the electric field.
Can field lines cross each other?
Electric field lines cannot cross. If they did, they would be telling you that the force on a charge at that location would point in two different directions, which does not make any sense at all. If lines for two different values of the potential were to cross, then they would no longer represent equipotential lines.
Is true for electric lines force?
The statement is true because tangent in the path of electric field lines gives us the direction of the electric field at that point. In case the lines cut each other, it means that there will be 2 directions on the electric field, which is impossible.