imprecise field lines - Githubissues

ericmazur / PnPbook

Tracking of typos, errors, and improvements for "The Principles and Practice of Physics"

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imprecise field lines #135

Open JohnDenker opened 9 years ago

JohnDenker commented 9 years ago

In figure 26.6 in section 26.2 on page 689 the field lines seem to be an "artist's impression" that do not accurately portray the physics.

The field lines outside each capacitor have a large component in the direction parallel to the conductor, at the point where they meet the conductor. This is inconsistent with the notion of conductor.
Outside the stubby capacitor, the field strength (as represented by the density of lines) is large, almost as large as the field in the gap. The real field is much less.

Suggestion: It's usually easier and safer to use a computer program to help draw equipotential contours and field lines.

ericmazur commented 8 years ago

I did that for most of the drawings, but not this one as my program was no longer working and I ran out of time. Do you know of a good program?