What equations relate to the symmetry of equipotential lines?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the symmetry of equipotential lines in the context of electric fields and potential. Participants are exploring how these lines relate to the x-axis and y-axis symmetries, particularly in a scenario involving charges and their effects on the equipotential lines.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are questioning the nature of symmetry in the equipotential lines and how it relates to the axes. There are inquiries about the specific setup of the problem, including the presence of charges and the initial state of the diagram. Some participants express confusion about the details of the problem statement and the diagram provided.

Discussion Status

There is an ongoing exploration of the problem, with participants seeking clarification on the initial conditions and the relationships between the electric field and potential. Some guidance has been offered regarding the interpretation of the diagram and the symmetry considerations, but no consensus has been reached.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the problem involves completing an equipotential line based on a provided diagram, which is a result of an experiment that could not be conducted in person. There is mention of confusion regarding the original diagram and the specific details of the charge distribution.

Mimyo
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Homework Statement
complete this equipotential line.
Relevant Equations
.
KakaoTalk_20200923_162021373_01.jpg
This is the second quadrant of the equipotential line. I think this would be symmetry but I'm not sure what to do.
Is this going to be the symmetry of both the x-axis and y-axis and the symmetry of the y-axis is ( - )?

Sorry for the bad English! feel free to leave comment if you can't understand the question, thank you!
 
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Mimyo said:
Homework Statement:: complete this equipotential line.
Relevant Equations:: .

View attachment 270056This is the second quadrant of the equipotential line. I think this would be symmetry but I'm not sure what to do.
Is this going to be the symmetry of both the x-axis and y-axis and the symmetry of the y-axis is ( - )?

Sorry for the bad English! feel free to leave comment if you can't understand the question, thank you!
Welcome to PhysicsForums. :smile:

The problem statement and the graph/drawing are very confusing. What is the full problem statement? What is at the origin? Charge? Current? A point of something or a distribution of line charge or something?

And what did the blank diagram look like before you started trying to draw lines on it? Were the long straight lines at angles there before, or did you draw those with a ruler? Were only the dotted lines in arcs on the drawing before, and all of the rest of the lines are yours?
 
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berkeman said:
Welcome to PhysicsForums. :smile:

The problem statement and the graph/drawing are very confusing. What is the full problem statement? What is at the origin? Charge? Current? A point of something or a distribution of line charge or something?

And what did the blank diagram look like before you started trying to draw lines on it? Were the long straight lines at angles there before, or did you draw those with a ruler? Were only the dotted lines in arcs on the drawing before, and all of the rest of the lines are yours?
Professor just gave me the picture, since we can't do the experiment due to COVID 19. So this is the result of the "equipotential line experiment". The picture I posted is the 1/4 of the result and the original one (That I have to complete) is below. Line of electric force flows from + to -, and you can see the ( + ) in the picture.

KakaoTalk_20200923_161951630.jpg


So, I haven't drawn any lines. According to his advice, I have to symmetry to x or y-axis and connected dots going to be the equipotential line. After that, I have to symmetry the equipotential line again.

Thanks for helping me T_T
 
Okay, thanks. That helps a lot. So there are +/- charges on the x-axis at +/- 28 (whatever units), right?

Probably the Equipotential lines look a lot like the diagram below. But what equation would you use to calculate the E-field at any point as the sum of the contributions from each of the two charges? And how does that relate to the equation for the potential generated from that vector E-field?

1601156719073.png
 

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