Get Answers to all your Questions

header-bg qa

Consider an arbitrary electrostatic field configuration. A small test charge is placed at a null point of the condfiguration. Show that the equilibrium of the test charge is necessarity unstable.

Answers (1)

For equilibrium to be stable, there must be a restoring force and hence all the field lines should be directed inwards towards the null point. This implies that there is a net inward flux of the electric field. But this violates Gauss's law, which states that the flux of electric field through a surface not enclosing any charge must be zero. Hence, the equilibrium of the test charge cannot be stable.

Therefore, the equilibrium is necessarily unstable.

Posted by

Satyajeet Kumar

View full answer

JEE Main high-scoring chapters and topics

Study 40% syllabus and score up to 100% marks in JEE