Exploration 25.1: Investigate Equipotential Lines

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The panel on the left displays an electric field vector plot.  The arrows in the field plot represent the direction, and the colors represent the magnitude of the electric field.   Restart.

1. What is an equipotential line? 
2. How can such a line be determined from an electric field representation like that shown in the left panel?
3. Draw the equipotential lines for this field by dragging the pencil (at its tip) after clicking the "draw on" button.  Use the print screen function on your computer to print out a copy of your drawing. 
4. After you have drawn your lines, determine which potential plot (1, 2, 3, or 4) best represents the region.  Explain your choice.
5. Was your drawing a good representation of the actual equipotential lines?  Did you have any misunderstandings?  Explain.

Need help?  Enable Contour Lines on Double-Click to see the actual contours in the electric field view by double-clicking in the region.

Exploration authored by Mario Belloni and Wolfgang Christian and modified by Melissa Dancy.
© 2004 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. A Pearson Company