In electrostatic situations and in steady-state circuits, charges on the surface of a conductor contribute significantly to the net electric field inside the conductor. These charges build up quickly due to transient currents that are initiated by the presence of external charged objects or objects such as batteries that maintain a charge separation. We describe an algorithm for computing the detailed surface charge distributions in equilibrium electrostatic situations and in steady-state DC circuits, and discuss the results of our computations of surface charge distributions for several systems. The results show that in simple DC circuit geometries a roughly constant gradient of surface charge plays a dominant role in establishing the net field inside circuit elements. Three-dimensional visualization contributes to new insights into surface charge distributions on circuit elements.
%0 Journal Article
%1 chabay2019polarization
%A Chabay, Ruth
%A Sherwood, Bruce
%D 2019
%I American Association of Physics Teachers
%J American Journal of Physics
%K 78-01-optics-electromagnetic-theory-instructional-exposition 78m15-boundary-element-methods-optics-electromagnetic-theory 94c05-analytic-circuit-theory
%N 5
%P 341--349
%R 10.1119/1.5095939
%T Polarization in electrostatics and circuits: Computing and visualizing surface charge distributions
%U https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.5095939
%V 87
%X In electrostatic situations and in steady-state circuits, charges on the surface of a conductor contribute significantly to the net electric field inside the conductor. These charges build up quickly due to transient currents that are initiated by the presence of external charged objects or objects such as batteries that maintain a charge separation. We describe an algorithm for computing the detailed surface charge distributions in equilibrium electrostatic situations and in steady-state DC circuits, and discuss the results of our computations of surface charge distributions for several systems. The results show that in simple DC circuit geometries a roughly constant gradient of surface charge plays a dominant role in establishing the net field inside circuit elements. Three-dimensional visualization contributes to new insights into surface charge distributions on circuit elements.
@article{chabay2019polarization,
abstract = {In electrostatic situations and in steady-state circuits, charges on the surface of a conductor contribute significantly to the net electric field inside the conductor. These charges build up quickly due to transient currents that are initiated by the presence of external charged objects or objects such as batteries that maintain a charge separation. We describe an algorithm for computing the detailed surface charge distributions in equilibrium electrostatic situations and in steady-state DC circuits, and discuss the results of our computations of surface charge distributions for several systems. The results show that in simple DC circuit geometries a roughly constant gradient of surface charge plays a dominant role in establishing the net field inside circuit elements. Three-dimensional visualization contributes to new insights into surface charge distributions on circuit elements.
},
added-at = {2020-06-16T05:15:04.000+0200},
author = {Chabay, Ruth and Sherwood, Bruce},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/29f98e69951770ce0e61ffc410c02311b/gdmcbain},
comment = {doi: 10.1119/1.5095939},
doi = {10.1119/1.5095939},
interhash = {81be86d7a4955d876ec33543490b982d},
intrahash = {9f98e69951770ce0e61ffc410c02311b},
issn = {00029505},
journal = {American Journal of Physics},
keywords = {78-01-optics-electromagnetic-theory-instructional-exposition 78m15-boundary-element-methods-optics-electromagnetic-theory 94c05-analytic-circuit-theory},
month = apr,
number = 5,
pages = {341--349},
publisher = {American Association of Physics Teachers},
timestamp = {2020-06-16T05:16:37.000+0200},
title = {Polarization in electrostatics and circuits: Computing and visualizing surface charge distributions},
url = {https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.5095939},
volume = 87,
year = 2019
}