Understanding Electric Field Distribution in Various Charge Configurations

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

This discussion focuses on visualizing electric field distributions from various charge configurations, including point charges, line charges, surface charges, and volume charges, using MATLAB. Participants emphasize the necessity of summing the electric fields vectorially and integrating charge distributions for accurate representations. Key techniques mentioned include using MATLAB's 'quiver' function for drawing electric field lines and applying Gauss's Law for spherical and cylindrical charge distributions. Understanding linear charge density and the behavior of electric fields in relation to charge shapes is crucial for effective visualization.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of electric field concepts and vector addition
  • Familiarity with MATLAB programming, specifically the 'quiver' function
  • Knowledge of Gauss's Law and its application to different charge distributions
  • Basic principles of charge density, including linear and surface charge density
NEXT STEPS
  • Research MATLAB visualization techniques for electric fields, focusing on 'quiver' and 'meshgrid'
  • Study Gauss's Law in-depth, particularly for spherical and cylindrical charge distributions
  • Explore numerical integration methods for summing electric field contributions from distributed charges
  • Learn about electric field line representation and how to calculate field vectors for complex shapes
USEFUL FOR

Students and professionals in physics, electrical engineering, and computational modeling who are interested in visualizing electric fields and understanding charge interactions using MATLAB.

blur_monny
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
hi,
i'm having problem to understand th electric field distribution. I have to produce a visualization tools to display the electric field due to point charges, line charges, surface charges and volume charges which are interact with each other using Matlab. So anyone have any idea how to do it?

is it just adding the electric fields due to point charges,line charges, surface charges and volume charges together?

HELP! :smile:
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
blur_monny said:
hi,
i'm having problem to understand th electric field distribution. I have to produce a visualization tools to display the electric field due to point charges, line charges, surface charges and volume charges which are interact with each other using Matlab. So anyone have any idea how to do it?

is it just adding the electric fields due to point charges,line charges, surface charges and volume charges together?

HELP! :smile:

What do you mean by "distribution"??WWwwhat about "visualizing"??YYYou mean you can't draw electric field lines??Basically for every shape of the "source" you can find the electric field and therefore draw the electric field vectors tangent to the field lines...

Daniel.
 
dextercioby said:
What do you mean by "distribution"??WWwwhat about "visualizing"??YYYou mean you can't draw electric field lines??Basically for every shape of the "source" you can find the electric field and therefore draw the electric field vectors tangent to the field lines...

Daniel.

so, do u have any idea how to draw the electric field line as shown in th eattachment using MATLAB command? For example, I'm going to insert a point charge, a line charge and a surface charge, how can all these charges interact with each other?

i had tried to used 'quiver' but the result shown is not too gd?i'm wondering do i need to enclosed the electriec field potentiol formula to produce the line??

help!

:confused:
 

Attachments

  • u8l4c16.jpg
    u8l4c16.jpg
    22.6 KB · Views: 493
If you talk about line charges then the electric field is the sum of all the vector components in the X and Y direction. You'll have to integrate (sum up all the little distributions) to solve suhc kind of questions. You will have to use linear charge density in these kind of questions.

FOr surfaces such as spheres the electric field (by Gauss' Law) is liek that of a point charge.

For things a little more complex than that such as cylinders, cones(argh!), and so on you have to use Gauss Law and understand that the charge is distribtued evenly over the surface and it is only on the outer surface of the shape in question. Thus there is NO electric field inside an object such a cylinder or a sphere or blah blah blah.

Oh and the electric field always points perpendicular to the surface.

Hoe you found this helpful.
 

Similar threads

Replies
9
Views
2K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Replies
23
Views
4K
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
Replies
4
Views
3K
Replies
9
Views
760
Replies
11
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K