Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Is the electric field the same along any equipotential line?
1 Answer
- tlbs101Lv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
No. An equipotential line is described by a scalar voltage (volts). Electric fields are a vector (volts per meter in a particular direction)
For point sources, or uniform charge distributions in constant, uniform permittivity spaces, the E-field is usually proportional to the equipotential voltages.
But for space where the permittivity changes (e.g. at the edge of a capacitor; from a capacitor dielectric to the surrounding air), you can map the equipotential lines, but the volts per meter (E-field) will change -- the 'volts' of the equipotential line will not match the 'volts' of the E-field. This is because the 'distance' and direction changes for the vector.