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This electric force is conventionally called the electrostatic force or Coulomb force. [2] Although the law was known earlier, it was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb .
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
Electric field work is the work performed by an electric field on a charged particle in its vicinity. The work per unit of charge is defined as the movement of negligible test charge between two points, and is expressed as the difference in electric potential at those points.
These equations are inhomogeneous versions of the wave equation, with the terms on the right side of the equation serving as the source functions for the wave. As with any wave equation, these equations lead to two types of solution: advanced potentials (which are related to the configuration of the sources at future points in time), and ...
In the electric and magnetic field formulation there are four equations that determine the fields for given charge and current distribution. A separate law of nature, the Lorentz force law, describes how the electric and magnetic fields act on charged particles and currents. By convention, a version of this law in the original equations by ...
Lorentz force on a charged particle (of charge q) in motion (velocity v), used as the definition of the E field and B field. Here subscripts e and m are used to differ between electric and magnetic charges. The definitions for monopoles are of theoretical interest, although real magnetic dipoles can be described using pole strengths.
Gauss's law in its integral form is particularly useful when, by symmetry reasons, a closed surface (GS) can be found along which the electric field is uniform. The electric flux is then a simple product of the surface area and the strength of the electric field, and is proportional to the total charge enclosed by the surface.
The combination of the electric and magnetic forces on a charged particle is called the Lorentz force. [7] [8] Classical electromagnetism is fully described by the Lorentz force alongside a set of equations called Maxwell's equations. The first of these equations is known as Gauss's law.