December 12, 2012
Continuous Charge Distributions
Electric Field from a Positively Charged Arc of Length
dE
dQ {
r
If the wire is positively charged, then the
direction of the net electric field is directly
away from the center of the arc (in the
positive x-direction in our example).
If the wire is negatively charged, then the
net electric field is towards the center of
the arc.
December 12, 2012
Continuous Charge Distributions
Electric Field from a Positively Charged, Infinitely Long Wire on the y-axis
dQ {
y
r
x
dE
December 12, 2012
This is from a TI-Nspire. The result is so
nice and simple that I'm sure there's a good
way to do this without using the calculator.
This is from Mathematica. It simplifies to the
same result. I don't know why it comes out in
such a weird way.