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Unit 3: Maxwell's first equation - an alternative to Coulomb's law
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We can easily use Coulomb's law to find the electric field due to a single charge. But what happens when there are multiple charges? Let's see how we can find the electric field in such a scenario using Coulomb's law and then introduce an alternative that's better!
In this lesson, we use the basic definition of electric field derived using Coulomb's law to find the net electric field due to multiple charges. As we will see, it requires some vector addition to achieve this!
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- Superposition principle (basic)Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
- Electric field due to two charges on line joining themGet 3 of 4 questions to level up!
Using the principle of superposition, we can find the electric field due to continuous charge distributions. It is a long way, but this way ALWAYS works!
Let's imagine electric field to be a flow - a flux. This brand new quantity will help us rewrite Coulomb's law in an elegant way later on!
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- Area vectorsGet 3 of 4 questions to level up!
- Flux of electric fieldsGet 3 of 4 questions to level up!
Here it is, Maxwell's first equation, our first milestone! As we will see this new way of looking at Coulomb's law will help us solve some pretty tedious problems in a few steps
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- Gauss's lawGet 5 of 7 questions to level up!
Now, we are ready to use Gauss's law in certain special situations to find electric fields quickly and easily!
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- Applications of Gauss's law (basic)Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
- Applications of Gauss's law (intermediate)Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
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