Electric Dipoles in a Constant Electric Field
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This Demonstration considers the behavior of electric dipoles in an electric field produced by a pair of infinite parallel plates.
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Contributed by: Fis. Fernando Moncada and Elián Pauta (May 2021)
Suggested by: Esteban Irribarra
(Developed in the Physics Laboratory of Escuela Politécnica Nacional)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
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A constant electric field is produced by two infinite parallel plates with equal charge densities of opposite sign. The electric field is then given by
,
where is the permittivity of the dielectric. This Demonstration uses the permittivity of air.
An electric dipole consists of two charges and separated by a distance . The dipole moment is given by
,
where is the vector from the negative charge toward the positive charge.
When this dipole interacts with an external electric field, the potential energy is given by
.
This field causes a torque on the electric dipoles given by
.
Acted on by this torque, the dipoles reorient themselves toward the direction of the electric field.
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