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Whats the principle of superposition

  1. Sep 17, 2012 #1

    spock9000

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    Hello

    I would appreciate if someone can refresh my mind with the principle of superposition..
     
    spock9000, Sep 17, 2012
  2. jcsd
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  3. Sep 17, 2012 #2

    SHISHKABOB

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    SHISHKABOB, Sep 17, 2012
  4. Sep 17, 2012 #3

    spock9000

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    lol yeah wikipedia was my first website but i didnt understood that explanations i already found an easy explanations.. thanks anyway..

    Superposition Principle

    The Superposition Principle states that net electric field produced at any point by a system of charges is equal to the vector sum of all individual fields, produced by each charge at this point

    http://physics-help.info/physicsguide/electricity/electric_field.shtml
     
    spock9000, Sep 17, 2012
  5. Sep 18, 2012 #4

    Khashishi

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    The superposition principle is a property of a linear system/function/algebra. If the function f is linear, then if
    [itex]A=f(a)[/itex]
    [itex]B=f(b)[/itex]
    then
    [itex]A+B=f(a+b)[/itex]
    This is the superposition principle and it works for any sort of linear or approximately linear problem. Electromagnetism and quantum mechanics are linear. More specifically, the electric field is a linear function of the charge distribution.
    [itex]\textbf{E}(\vec{x})=f(\rho(\vec{x}))[/itex]
    So, if you know the electric field for two charge distributions, you can easily figure out the electric field for the combined charge distribution.
     
    Khashishi, Sep 18, 2012
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