Electrostatics and Image Theory

These flashcards cover key concepts and terms related to electrostatics and the image theory as discussed in the lecture notes.

Coulomb's Law

A law that describes the force between two charged objects, stating that the force is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Electric Field (E)

A physical field around charged particles that exerts a force on other charged particles, measured in volts per meter (V/m).

Gaussian Surface

A closed surface in three-dimensional space used in Gauss's law to calculate electric fields, represented by various geometric shapes, such as spheres.

Image Method

A technique used to simplify the calculation of electric fields and potentials created by charges near conducting surfaces by introducing imaginary charges.

Surface Charge Density (ρs)

The amount of electric charge per unit area on a surface, measured in coulombs per square meter (C/m²).

Grounded Conducting Plane

A conductive surface that is connected to the Earth, allowing it to maintain zero electric potential.

Electric Field Intensity

A measure of the force per unit charge experienced by a test charge placed in an electric field, represented as E = F/q, where F is the force and q is the charge.

Induced Charge Density

The distribution of charge that develops on a conductor when it is exposed to an external electric field.

Circular Symmetry

A property where a system remains unchanged under rotations about a central axis, often used in modeling electric fields around symmetric charge distributions.

Test Charge

A small positive charge used to measure the electric field at a point without significantly altering the field itself.