question_answer 34)

Describe schematically the equi-potential surfaces corresponding to (a) a constant electric field in the z-direction. (b) a field that uniformly increases in magnitude but remains in a constant (say, z) direction, (c) a single positive charge at the origin, and (d) a uniform grid consisting of long equally spaced parallel charged wires in a plane.  

Answer:

(a) A plane parallel to xy plane. (b) Plane parallel to xy plane but the planes having different fixed potential will become closer with the increase in field intensity. (c) Concentric spheres with origin as centre. (d) A time dependent changing shape nearer to grid which slowly becomes planar and parallel to the grid at far off distances from the grid.