The equipotential lines around the heart, the thoracic region, and the axis of the heart are useful ways of monitoring the structure and functions of the heart. An artificial pacemaker and a defibrillator can be used to initiate the rhythm of electrical signals. When a person has a heart attack, the movement of these electrical signals may be disturbed. The movement of electrical signals causes the chambers of the heart to contract and relax. The heart relies on electrical signals to maintain its rhythm. The electric field and equipotential lines between two metal plates.Īn important application of electric fields and equipotential lines involves the heart. The same field could be maintained by placing conducting plates at the equipotential lines at the potentials shown. Between the plates, the equipotentials are evenly spaced and parallel. One of the most important cases is that of the familiar parallel conducting plates shown in Figure 4. Note that these fields are consistent with two equal negative charges (b) The corresponding electric field lines are found by drawing them perpendicular to the equipotentials. (a) These equipotential lines might be measured with a voltmeter in a laboratory experiment. Note that the potential is greatest (most positive) near the positive charge and least (most negative) near the negative charge. The equipotential lines can be drawn by making them perpendicular to the electric field lines, if those are known. The electric field lines and equipotential lines for two equal but opposite charges. Conversely, given the equipotential lines, as in Figure 3(a), the electric field lines can be drawn by making them perpendicular to the equipotentials, as in Figure 3(b). Given the electric field lines, the equipotential lines can be drawn simply by making them perpendicular to the electric field lines. For example, in Figure 1 a charged spherical conductor can replace the point charge, and the electric field and potential surfaces outside of it will be unchanged, confirming the contention that a spherical charge distribution is equivalent to a point charge at its center.įigure 2 shows the electric field and equipotential lines for two equal and opposite charges. Thus the work isĪ conductor can be fixed at zero volts by connecting it to the earth with a good conductor-a process called grounding.īecause a conductor is an equipotential, it can replace any equipotential surface. No work is required to move a charge along an equipotential, since. It is important to note that equipotential lines are always perpendicular to electric field lines. Equipotential lines are perpendicular to electric field lines in every case. Work is needed to move a charge from one equipotential line to another. The potential is the same along each equipotential line, meaning that no work is required to move a charge anywhere along one of those lines.
An isolated point charge Q with its electric field lines in blue and equipotential lines in green. Since the electric field lines point radially away from the charge, they are perpendicular to the equipotential lines. An equipotential sphere is a circle in the two-dimensional view of Figure 1. This is true since the potential for a point charge is given by and, thus, has the same value at any point that is a given distance from the charge. The potential for a point charge is the same anywhere on an imaginary sphere of radius surrounding the charge. The term equipotential is also used as a noun, referring to an equipotential line or surface. These are called equipotential lines in two dimensions, or equipotential surfaces in three dimensions.
While we use blue arrows to represent the magnitude and direction of the electric field, we use green lines to represent places where the electric potential is constant. Electric field lines radiate out from a positive charge and terminate on negative charges. Consider Figure 1, which shows an isolated positive point charge and its electric field lines.
We can represent electric potentials (voltages) pictorially, just as we drew pictures to illustrate electric fields. Compare electric field and equipotential lines.Describe the action of grounding an electrical appliance.Explain equipotential lines and equipotential surfaces.
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