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siddharth5129
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Do the electric lines of force necessarily depict the trajectory of a charged particle? Or do they depict the trajectory at all.
No. As dx said, the lines represent the direction of the electric force (on a positive charge), not the direction of the particle's velocity.gnurf said:This means that the electric field lines do in fact depict the trajectory of a charged particle, but only as long as there are no other forces also acting on the particle.
OK, being at rest is a special case. If it starts from rest it will initially move in the direction of the field lines.gnurf said:What I was trying to say was that a charged particle (initially at rest) will move along the electric field lines if no other forces are acting on the particle. Is this wrong?
Electric lines of force are imaginary lines that depict the strength and direction of an electric field. They are used to visualize how electric charges interact with each other and their surrounding environment.
Electric lines of force determine the direction and magnitude of the force acting on a charged particle. The particle will move along the direction of the force, following the path of the electric lines of force.
Electric lines of force are calculated using Coulomb's law, which states that the force between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
No, electric lines of force cannot cross each other. They always repel each other and therefore, cannot intersect. If they were to cross, it would mean that the same point in space has two different electric field strengths and directions, which is not possible.
Studying electric lines of force helps us understand the behavior of charged particles in electric fields. It is essential in many fields, such as electromagnetism, electronics, and particle physics. It also allows us to predict and control the motion of charged particles, which has numerous practical applications in technology and engineering.